The Return of the SeeD
by Rydia Pryde
Summary: Taking place after the events of the game. An undercover SeeD returns to garden with information that Rinoa is in danger, leading the whole gang to another adventure. Things of course, are not what they seem. Rated M for some depictions of violence and language. (just to be on the safe side)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own FF8

This is my first fan-fiction, I apologize in advance...

**Part I**

Quistis jumped by the sharp ringing in the office. The red phone. The emergency phone. She met eyes with Squall at his desk and he nodded to her indicating for her to answer. Bracing herself she lifted the phone to her ear.

_"ID 24601 reporting in. Do you copy?_" The voice on the other line said.

Qustis' eyes widened. Mia? "24601... is it really you?"

_"Queen?"_

"Affirmative. Dragon... I..." Quistis snapped herself back into protocol, "state your location." On hearing the code name, Squall narrowed his eyes a bit. He knew the SeeD on the other line, did missions with her as a cadet and had seen first hand how deadly and cunning she was. If she was having to resort to the emergency line, it was not going to be good.

_"I need to plant."_Code. She needed to get to Garden.

Qustis glanced at her computer screen to verify the Garden's location, "Rendezvous 57 at 2300."

_"57 at 2300. Copy that,"_ the voice paused, _"If I'm not there, I imagine you'll find me in Deling." _Translation: If she didn't make it, it meant she was dead, and her murderer was in Deling.

"I understand," Qustis answered softly adding, "Godspeed."

_"Wait. Queen._"

"This line isn't secure, Dragon."

_"I'm aware, but in case I miss the train... it's about your cargo. It's in danger."_

The line clicked and Qustis put the receiver down. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at Squall, "Mia is meeting us tonight. She's been compromised. With Trabia Garden destroyed I guess we become her home base."

Squall frowned, "Are you sure that's a good idea?" The last time he had seen the girl she had seemed, well, less than stable. All SeeD were at risk for snapping, you can only see blood for so long before it gets to you. Mia's words from a mission long ago echoed in his brain. Words she spoke calmly after he had just watched her kill 3 people._ Squall. This is why SeeD uses GF, don't you see? You can't live with yourself if you always remember this... even if your body manages to live past 25, your mind never will._Ironic words coming from a SeeD who made a point of NOT junctioning, "I guess we have no choice. What did she say?"

"Squall, I'm not sure how to say this but..." Quistis bit her lip, "She said Rinoa was in danger."

Squall jumped up from his chair, "What? How? What did she say?!"

"She only said the cargo was in danger and someone is after her in Deling."

Squall groaned, "Shit." He clicked on the intercom on his desk, "Nida, steer us to Rendezvous 57"

Mia Vendenberg was coming back to Garden.

* * *

She was waiting for him... again. Things had changed in the last 6 months, they really had, he had slowly opened up to her. Truth be told he had opened up to all of their friends and there was no doubt in her mind of the deep bond between them strengthening each day. At the celebration after Time Compression he had kissed her again on the balcony; their second kiss. The first a stolen one the night before the battle.

...Time compression was disorienting, days and nights indistinguishable. The group had decided to rest before the battle, even though none of them were tired but they weren't particularly wide awake either. Unable to sleep, she and Squall had sat on a tattered balcony of the castle, staring at the vast nothingness. She felt herself choking up, the burning behind her eyes, unsure of what she was trying to grieve. She inhaled sharply,

"Squall, what if..."

He never let her finish, squeezing her hand firmly, "it won't." He leaned over and pecked her quickly, chastely on the lips, "I promise."

Calmness rushed over her, "In case, I want you to know that I lo-" They were cut off as the rest of their companions startled them out of their moment, plopping down next to them, all of them too restless to sleep.

The six had sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity and yet seconds at the same time, just staring. By the end of the reverie they realized that at some point they had all clasped onto each others hands... the unspoken mantra, 'just in case.' Just in case it is the last time, the last chance, the last seconds of their short lives. Ultimecia...

She shuddered outwardly, the name still causing a tingle to crawl up her spine and she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched.

At the celebration ball they had kissed again, on the balcony and stolen away that night to his room, kissing, exploring, eventually falling asleep in each others arms. They woke up the next morning, still in their clothing, sleepy eyes and something unspoken was promised once again. Knight... forever, but on top of that, a promise of love. It had taken him 3 more months to finally admit it to her, in the training center of all places. Oh that is CLASSIC him she mused, recalling that day.

...She had been practicing, Squall had felt it important for her to get better control of her abilities, to try to prevent the trance-like Angelwing from occurring too often... while she was powerful in those times, there was something unnerving about her not controlling her magic. She had just single handed downed a T-Rexaur, though the force of her last spell had landed her unceremoniously in the small stream.

She pulled herself up and was trying to brush the mud and leaves off of her clothing and cursing Squall's name under her breath when she felt arms wrap around her, his breath in her ear and a simple "I love you," nothing more, nothing less. She didn't respond, startled he had been watching her, just kissed him for all she was worth, and it continued until a group of training cadets stumbled upon them and they pulled apart, blushing furiously...

They had yet to take the final step in a relationship, Rinoa was never sure if it was her or him, but she figured it would happen when they were both ready. It scared her a bit. She was aware of his devotion, heard bits and pieces of it in his mind. She knew he desired her, almost craved her, some of the flickers she felt from him were both scary and enticing at the same time. She also knew that when they took that step, something would be sealed that there was no turning back from... she loved Squall, she wanted nothing else in the world as much as she wanted him, but part of her feared that; after all, she grew up in a home with parents who didn't have love.

She was also aware of what that love drove another Sorceress and Knight couple to; correction, MANY a sorceress/knight duo in history. That was another fun side-effect of being a sorceress: on top of constantly hearing fragmented thoughts and feeling emotions dripping off people, she dreamed constantly of sorceress and knight, blood, love, pain, war, hope and was never sure if her vivid visions were watching the past duos, or possible variations of her own future. She shivered again and looked back at her book, temporarily absorbed until the familiar smell of cigarettes wafted in her direction and she found herself intrigued by the source.

Rinoa couldn't help but continue to peek glances at the girl sitting near her. She thought she knew every SeeD in the Garden, or at least had seen them in the hallway. At the very least, she would have remembered this one.

It was sunny but the Quad was relatively quiet considering the time of day. She had been vacillating between being engrossed in her novel and reminiscing for about an hour when she finally realized the girl was about 10 feet to her right. She had no idea how long she had been there or when she got there. The ability to sneak around meant she had to be SeeD, no one else could escape notice so easily... I mean, she was a SORCERESS, while she may have not been as observant as Squall, she still fancied herself as pretty aware.

She couldn't place the girls age. Probably in her 20's, Rinoa guessed. She was smoking a cigarette, which was the reason Rinoa finally glanced over, the horrible smell of tobacco. Stale. Harsh. It reminded her of her Dad. It was unfortunately a habit Squall also had acquired in his adolescence though he did at least try to not do it around her. She noticed he seemed to smoke more recently, seemingly brought out by frustration. She glanced over and saw a figure sitting on the ground, wearing a black leather jacket, at first she figured it was Squall and was about to yell at him for smoking near her, but Squall did not have long black hair and he didn't wear mini skirts.

In certain ways her face looked a bit like Rinoa's except for the green eyes, green eyes that looked... off, something was abnormal that Rinoa couldn't put her finger on. Her hair was jet black, like Rinoa's, but instead of the unfortunate caramel streaks Rinoa had FINALLY grown out, she had streaks of dark ox-blood red. Her hair fell across her as long as to her waist, near her gun, Rinoa noted and it looked like she never bothered to brush it.

Rinoa giggled a bit to herself, "bed-head" Squall would call it, he would seem to complain but he always stared at her with bedroom eyes when she looked like that. Maybe it reminded him of the moments that had led to her hair becoming messy and the fact that they both wanted to - she thought - but were too scared - or so she told herself - to finish. Well, Squall definitely wanted it, a lot, another piece of information she had inadvertently caught from his mind.

The girl took another drag of her cigarette and leaned back, her jacket falling open. The shirt- if you could call it that - barely covered what Rinoa believed to be, a perfect human specimen, if it wasn't for the hints of a tattoo wrapping from around her back and across her shoulder and a few scars on her body: the unmistakable branding of a mercenary. Zell would have liked that. He had dated the library girl for a while, but Rinoa always pictured him with someone a bit more edgy. Or at the very least that liked hot dogs.

The girl pulled up her knee to retie her boot and Rinoa caught site of a knife taped to her outer thigh under her skirt. _Definitely SeeD, two weapons and she's not even on a mission_. Or was she? Rinoa suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of paranoia. Maybe SeeD had started to watch her, despite Squall's protests that she was safe. She didn't recognize the girl, was it possible they were sending SeeDs from the White Ship to follow her? _Stop it, Rinoa. Just breath!_She pursed her lips and tried to push her nerves from her head and looked at the girl again.

"It's not nice to be stared at," the voice broke all thought, "you of all people should know."

Rinoa looked back at her book quickly, blushing, trying to pretend she hadn't been caught. I mean, the girl never even looked at her! "Oh, um... I'm sorry, I just..."

She laughed, her laugh was appealing, "I'm used to it, at least you're just curious and not sizing me up." She stood up and offered her hand to Rinoa after stomping out her cigarette, "Sorry about the smoke, I figured it didn't bother you because of Squall."

"You know Squall...?" _Of course she does, she's SeeD, idiot! _Rinoa hated seeming naive in front of SeeDs. In general they made her fairly insecure, and having a SeeD that looked like a super model towering over didn't help. Something in the girl's demeanor wasn't threatening, however, despite the loaded gun on her hip. Rinoa looked at her hand and noticed a familiar tattoo of an owl on it, "You're from Timber... who are you?"

She smiled a bit at Rinoa, "observant woman. Do you want to know what they call me or what my name is?"

Rinoa looked at her slightly confused.

"I know YOUR name is Rinoa, but everyone CALLS you Sorceress, maybe just not to your face."

Rinoa narrowed her eyes a bit, was this girl baiting her? Was her first instinct correct? Was she a White SeeD here to watch her, or was she one of the SeeDs she occasionally ran into who still thought she should be locked up in a prison in Esthar?

"I would have the guts to call you Sorceress to your face, but I would rather just call you Rinoa," the beautiful SeeD added, "My name is Mia."

"Mia?" Rinoa, didn't mean to, she honestly didn't, but sometimes small fragments of thoughts would just flash across her mind. She knew she could actively read minds if she tried hard to, but without even trying sometimes, images and thoughts that were not her own would sneak into her brain. She knew the girl was lying, so Rinoa looked at her incredulously, "That is not your real name."

Mia laughed again, sounding much younger than the ages her face betrayed, "So what they say is true." Rinoa had a curious look, but Mia either didn't notice, or didn't address it, Rinoa guessed it was the latter. Maybe the mind-reading ability of sorceress was something all SeeD knew about, and not just her friends.

Mia didn't seem put off by the accusation, instead was looking at her curiously, and Rinoa wondered if she hadn't let the lie go on purpose, to test her theory on Rinoa's abilities. She spoke again, "My birth name is Penny; Penelope, but no one has called me that since my mom, and it's a stupid name anyway... I'll take Mia over the other ones in my file." Mia stepped away from Rinoa to light another cigarette

Rinoa smiled at the girl, relaxing, whoever Mia was, she was not a threat, "Oh, well, I'd rather call you by your real name, cause I know how it is to be called by the name in their file..." she sympathized. Many people would call her 'Sorceress Rinoa' or even worse, just 'Sorceress' or just 'The Commander's distraction/problem/enemy/harlot' that one was from those who in the same sentence would mention how the Lunar Cry was technically her fault. Rinoa laughed nervously, "what else do they call you?" the question slipped out before she realized how rude it was.

Mia smirked. Rinoa Heartilly was exactly what she had pictured, spunky, smart, recklessly fearless, in short: her kind of girl. She liked her immediately. With cat eyes she glanced over at Rinoa and took a long drag, blowing smoke rings, her lips curled suggestively around the smoke, "you'd have to see me naked to figure it out." she said flatly.

Rinoa blinkblinked_ Is she hitting on me?_The girl handed her the cigarette and Rinoa took it without thinking, feeling mute as the girl slipped out of her leather jacket and plucked the cigarette back, turning around to show Rinoa her back. From the part that wasn't covered she could see that her entire back was covered in a very detailed tattoo, a picture that looked like a...

"DRAGON WOMAN," A voice squealed, running over to them. Mia was almost knocked over by the force of a Selphie hug. Selphie clung to the girl muttering softly, "I couldn't believe it when Quisty said you were back," she said as she let go and her hug reversed itself onto Rinoa "RINNYYYY!"

"You're back from Dollet!" Rinoa was happy to see her bubbly friend who had been absent from the Garden for over a month on a mission. Her absence was always noticed in Balamb, not only because it was quieter, but there were not random celebrations on an almost weekly basis like "Taco Tuesday" or "The day Zell didn't eat a hotdog". Selphie always seemed to be a force that kept her sane around all of the military types she was surrounded with, the types of people that reminded her way too much of her childhood.

Rinoa had managed to space out briefly and missed most of the animated conversation taking place between the two other women, Mia was shifting and glancing over her shoulder, seemingly anxious,"- anyway Selph, it's really good to see you alive."

_What an odd thing to say?_ Rinoa supposed it must have been a SeeD thing. _Glad to see you alive? These people have got to be less morbid... why can't you just be glad. Period._

Selphie jumped up and down, excited, "I still can't believe you're here and" her effervescent demeanor spreading rapidly to her companions, "To see you outside of Trabia and.. I mean" Selphie still had some trouble bringing that subject up, and as a rule of thumb, the group of friends tried to just avoid saying T-Garden. Ever.

Mia glanced away from Selphie, "I know, Selph, I wasn't there for you guys. I wasn't there for the missiles. I fai-"

"You were supposed to report to me," a stern male voice interrupted her thought and startled all three of them. Selphie 'meeped' and clicked her feet together, standing at attention, albeit slightly tongue-in-cheek. Mia flinched but did not assume a military stance though her posture did stiffen. Rinoa... jumped a bit in surprise, but upon hearing the voice, her entire body visibly relaxed.

All three girls looked over to see Squall, in full uniform. Rinoa loved when he was dressed like that and looked over adoringly, she swore that there might have been a small amount of drool on her lip. She was aware of how ridiculous she must look but she couldn't help it. He didn't smile back, but his eyes shined just a little. Rinoa knew by now he was in work-mode. Rinoa assumed he was addressing Selphie, but instead Mia spoke, "Yup, was finishing my cigarette, Squall, and getting acquainted with your lady here."

A glance passed between Selphie and Squall that Rinoa didn't understand. Squall looked... nervous if that was possible. She didn't think she had ever seen him nervous. Not to mention he didn't even seem phased when Mia spoke to him so casually.

Selphie coughed, "See, Mia here was in charge of Trabia Garden but has been on a mission for like ages. Was actually deep undercover during the whole Ultimecia thing and now is finally able to resurface at Garden again."

Rinoa looked rapidly between Selphie to Squall and then finally towards Mia who smiled at her again, "Squall and I still haven't decided who outranks whom, but since I'm on his turf, I'll let him win this time," she tossed her hair over her shoulder, "besides, I don't really care quite as much as his male ego does."

Rinoa almost fell on the ground, she NEVER heard anyone challenge Squall out loud (besides her of course) at least no one had lived to talk about it and this girl wasn't even scared. I mean, Rinoa even got a little nervous when she knew she had crossed the line. She could see the sweat drop forming on Selphie's head and felt one on her own as well.

Squall glared over at the leather-clad woman and muttered, "whatever."

Mia winked at him and crouched down, pulling out two silver boxes from her bag and after a quick glance at covers, she tossed one back in her bag and opened the second, the cover had something engraved in it, something familiar looking. Cigarettes popped out and she offered one to Squall as if a peace offering. Squall shook his head and looked over at Rinoa.

"I'll be damned," Mia said, laughing, "Squall at the mercy of a woman. I never thought I'd live to see the day," she placed her arm around Rinoa's shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze, "I liked you, now I like you even better, about time someone loosened that kid up."

Squall folded his arms and gave her even more of a death stare than before, especially as Rinoa and Selphie joined in Mia's laughter. "We can chat later, I already gave Qusty the important details, there's not really anything else to discuss," Mia added as she slung her bag and her jacket over her shoulder and stepped away from the group slightly.

Squall rolled his eyes, "you mean besides 5 dead bodies in one night?" Rinoa stopped laughing and looked at Selphie, who didn't seem phased as Squall continued in annoyance, "I don't even want to know how I only JUST found out about this and why Delegate Herzog doesn't seem to care."

Mia looked over at him with the look she had given Rinoa before, her eyes dancing and she looked like a cat ready to pounce, "I know what he likes."

Selphie giggled slightly, "There never has been a SeeD quite as effective as you, Mia."

Squall snorted at that. Mia ignored him, brushing past and grabbed Rinoa's hand, and to Rinoa's surprise kissed it, "Lady Sorceress," she called her, "it was an honor." she began to walk off and then paused, glancing over her shoulder, "and, Commander, my sweet Selphie is right. No matter how hard you try, you can't quite get the job done as effectively due to your one big, or small, have to ask Rinoa on that one, handicap."

Rinoa swore Squall blushed, just a little. He recovered quickly though and turned to Rinoa, "Sorceress?" He was ready to destroy, correction: kill anyone who hurt her, another flicker of emotions and thoughts Rinoa had felt from him before. He was surprised that she took Mia's words so easily, in fact, Rinoa was laughing, "oh, um, inside joke I guess,"_ It was almost like an unspoken nod of respect_, "Penny seems nice."

"Who?" Squall looked at her like she was crazy.

"Penny, Mia.. Dragon... whoever that was."

Selphie's eyes got big and she danced around on her feet, "THAT'S her real name? I've been wondering that for 10 years! She's never told ANYONE. How did you find out? Did you read her mind Rinny?"

Squall clicked his tongue and his hand instinctively went to the hilt of his gun blade, "watch the volume, Selphie," he looked at Rinoa's hand that Mia had kissed and she swore he looked almost disgusted. He pulled her to his side and placed a very quick kiss on her cheek when he determined no one was around murmuring, "be careful around her."

Selphie heard the comment and nodded, her voice suddenly becoming serious and un-Selphie like, "They don't call her Dragon for nothing... she was considered the most dangerous SeeD before... well before Squall. They say she killed an entire troop of elite soldiers in a bar with nothing but a sharpened hairpin."

Squall sighed, "With the pin she is putting in her hair as we speak in fact," he nodded his head towards the figure that had paused by the exit from the Quad to put up her hair, "well, that's Mia for you."

"I would hate to be her enemy," Selphie added with a huff, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Rinoa felt like she was missing a piece of the story, but kept her mouth shut.

Selphie cleared her throat and quickly decided to change the subject, "so, are you excited for fall festival, Rinny?"

It was already fall again, It had been well over a year since she had first come to Garden, to beg Cid for SeeD, 6 months since Time Compression. 3 months since Squall admitted he loved her. She could divide her life into periods of time. It made it all feel somehow... unimportant. Maybe Ultimecia had some decent points in wanting to get rid of time altogether.

"Um... earth to Rinny..."

"Oh!" she pulled herself out of her day dream again. Squall was seriously starting to rub off on her too much, "of COURSE. Any chance I'll get to seduce a dance out of you, Commander?" She winked over at Squall.

He smiled, just slightly, "I don't know how to dance..." he murmured and then Selphie swore that he might have possibly slightly semi-winked back at her. Or at least that's how she told the story to Irvine hours later.

* * *

"Oh YEAH, and Irvy guess what? The head-SeeD of Trabia is here! Mia is back! She looks a little worse for the wear from the last time I saw her, but you'll get to meet her, I told you about her before, you know... uh, Irvy?"

Irvine shifted a bit uncomfortably, sitting up in the bed, and reaching for a cigarette. Talking about that woman, the SeeD Mia was a subject he avoided with Selphie. Especially if she was the same one he knew from his days gallivanting around Galbadia. The same one who he may or may not have had a relationship with before meeting Selphie. The same one he may or may not have lied about knowing when she was first mentioned. Talking about Mia was definitely NOT his idea of pillow talk. He really didn't feel like telling Selphie about the dancer, who he may have been mildly infatuated with only to find out she was a SeeD who had been targeting him the whole time. Shortly after their summer fling, confidential Galbadian information was somehow "leaked" to the Timber Maniacs. Confidential information that he was supposed to be keeping confidential. Thankfully that was well over 3 years ago.

"Come on now, darlin, I wanna hear about your plans for the Fall Festival," he reached his arm around Selphie and guided her head to rest on his chest. The Festival. Good. That would definitely distract her.

Irvine closed his eyes as he listened to her chatter her chirpy voice washing over his soul. While some people may have found Selphie annoying, he certainly didn't. He could listen to her talk for hours, it reminded him that he was alive. It had taken him a while to finally settle down. Old habits die hard after all. While people had labeled Squall as the loner in the group, in reality, it was Irvine. He was a sniper. Selphie was the first person he ever had even entertained the possibility of a real relationship with and eventually he even believed that a team might be better than going at it alone. He used to be at his most calm before taking a shot, in absolute silence except for his deep breaths from his cigarette. Now he couldn't imagine a more calming place than just listening to Selphie. Being alone suddenly wasn't solace anymore. He smirked and squeezed her shoulder a bit, glancing down at her.

"Oh yeah, and I forgot to tell you-" she began, but was interrupted by the sound of her dorm room sliding shut.

"Yo! Sefie, I'm here! Thank you again for letting me room," a female voice called from the living room, and the unmistakable clunk of luggage, weapons and boots dropping to the floor accompanied it, "Hey, what's with this cowboy hat? This is cut-"

Mia's voice stopped as she walked into Selphie's room, Irvine's hat upon her head, "oh." was all she managed to say as she faced the naked couple on the bed awkwardly, thankfully covered by a sheet. She looked at Irvine and he knew, KNEW he was caught.

"IforgottotellyouMiaisstaying withme," Selphie blurted out quickly.

Mia smiled, "Ah.. sorry I'm interrupting the fun. My goodness, little Selphie Tilmitt breaking Garden rules... I taught you well," She took the cowboy hat from her head and tossed it over to Irvine, "You must be Irvine, Selphie told me about you, cover yourself up, hm?"

Irvine narrowed his eyes a bit. Clearly Mia didn't want Selphie knowing about their past either. Not that he minded getting off the hook, but he knew KNEW there was eventually going to be a catch, "Heard 'bout you too, Mia." He nodded at her.

"Good choice, Selph," she said as she turned on her heel and exited the room, calling out, "I'll be in the other room with headphones on, go back to whatever, you crazy kids."

Irvine thunked his head against the back of the bed with a audible groan. Mia's reappearance among the SeeD was going to cause some serious hiccups... and he imagined that the problems he was going to have were just the tip of the iceberg of what ever she was capable of. It was going to be a long year.

* * *

This is my first fanfiction. It's going to be an adventure/romance. Canon pairings

R&R but be gentle!

BTW: Mia's character is VERY loosely based upon Irene Adler from Sherlock Holmes.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own FF8

**Part II**

Quistis sighed and placed her forehead in the palm of her hand, "Mia, can you PLEASE not smoke in here? Honestly, you're worse than Squall."

"Aw, come on, Quisty," the person in question was leaning back in the Commander's chair with her feet propped up on his desk, "I am way more friendly than Squall and a heck of a lot more fun."

Quistis pursed her lips together suppressing a smile, "He is going to kill you when he gets here."

"Alright, alright..." Mia pulled her feet off the desk and turned up her heel so that she could press the cigarette to the bottom of her boot, tossing the butt in the trashcan, "I'll try not to outstay my welcome, I know he would be happy to find a reason to get me out of here."

Quistis leaned back in her chair propping her own feet on her desk, "It's not like that, and you know it. You just... you epitomize the opposite of everything he is so firm on."

"Yeah I know, 'undisciplined', right? Just 'cause I happen to think there is more than one way to skin a cat... but let's talk shop when our illustrious Commander joins us," she arched an eyebrow and looked over at the blonde woman at the desk opposite her, "So tell me Quisty... How's Almasy?"

"Wh..What? What are you... how did you...?" Quistis' feet fell off the desk in surprise and she almost stumbled out of her chair. Her current "relationship" with Seifer (and she used that term loosely) was not something she was even completely sure of yet, let alone something she was ready to gossip about.

"Quistis, Puh-LEASE. I know everything. Seifer owed me a favor from ages ago, when we met up the moron let it slip out that he had just been with you. If we're all being honest here, he was the one who helped me acquire the information I told you about last night."

Quistis mentally groaned, "Stupid GFs, I forgot you were his instructor too. No one else knows, do they?"

"I can keep a secret, from womb to tomb. But, I have to ask: why keep the secret at all? I mean, he's good enough to look at if that's what you're worried about... Sure, he can be a little dense, but I'm sure you could, ahem, whip him into shape," Mia leaned her chin against her hands as she leaned her elbows on the desk boring Quistis with mischievous eyes.

"MIA!" Quistis tossed a pen over in Mia's direction, "I didn't even know he was still in contact with you," she added trying to hastily change the subject from her love life.

"He was one of the best students I ever had. You were the one who recommended him to my field training class, remember? He would have been a brilliant SeeD, but instead he is a brilliant self-employed mercenary. A mercenary with nothing left to lose is the best kind," she winked at Quistis, "though I guess that's changed since you guys got, ah, reacquainted. He is starting to act like a man with an awful lot to lose."

She was about to continue when Squall strode into the office and she quickly snapped her mouth shut. He was clenching his jaw as he noticed Mia sitting at his desk, "Seriously, Mia?" He motioned his hand towards the boot stain on some of the papers, "I mean can't you at least TRY to act like you went to an elite military academy sometimes?"

Mia rolled her eyes and stood up from the chair, "You're one to talk. You're sleeping with the sorceress."

Squall didn't say anything, yanking the chair towards him and sitting down pointedly, trying to tidy up the mess Mia had made at his desk, "Were you smoking in here?"

"A-ha... A-HA!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger towards him accusingly.

"You're acting weird."

Mia put her hands on her hips triumphantly, "So you haven't slept with her yet... interesting play by Miss Heartilly," Mia brought her hand to her chin rubbing it thoughtfully, "I wonder... is it Rinoa that's waiting OR do you have some crazy Garden rule you are afraid to break," she paused and glanced at Squall for a reaction, but was received with silence and a straight face. Mia rolled her eyes, "You are so painfully easy to read. Don't worry, I'll talk to Rinoa for you, Commander."

Squall continued to ignore her, "Don't smoke in here again, I'm trying to quit," after he was satisfied things were in their proper place he crossed his arms and looked over at her, "and don't give advice to Rinoa about anything, ever. That's an order... now give me your report."

Mia flopped down on the couch in the office and extracted the cigarette she was about to light from her mouth and slid it behind her ear tossing her lighter on the table next to her in annoyance, "Fine. But it doesn't leave this room. No Cid Kramer. The three of us, Irvine, Selphie, that hyper blond kid you guys trust, Nida, Xu and maybe Rinoa. Got it?"

Squall shook his head, "No deal."

"Cid is not to be involved, or I'll do this by myself, Squall," Mia glared over at him.

"You won't make it a week."

"I don't care."

Squall had his reservations about how Mia conducted herself, and despite fact that she broke just about every rule Garden ever instated, she had remained clever enough to never do it within the walls of Garden itself, creating complicated loopholes that let her remain there. She eventually had made herself into an immeasurable asset which basically gave her a ticket to behave however she wanted. She hated Cid, and he was pretty sure Cid hated her, yet she had been in charge of Trabia Garden. _ Keep your enemies closer._ Despite how Cid felt, Squall didn't see her as an enemy. Unpredictable, unprofessional, unstable, sure, but also loyal and trustworthy. _And insanely deadly if you're on her bad side._He had witnessed that first hand as a cadet. Besides, Quistis trusted her without hesitation. If Quistis was on board, so was he.

Squall sighed, "fine. But we only tell minimal information to Rinoa, I don't want her to get worried, and she's not SeeD. She doesn't need to see all of this."

Quistis frowned, and decided it was time to step in before she wasted the next hour of her life watching the two of them bicker back and forth, "Squall, I don't know if that's a good idea. Rinoa has seen plenty and I wouldn't feel comfortable lying to her."

Mia waved her hand, "Quistis, it's fine. Rinoa will be on a need-to-know basis. I actually semi-agree with Squall here, there is plenty she would be better off not knowing, and quite frankly there is plenty that *I'm* not ready for her to know. Not yet anyway."

Squall visibly relaxed. He loved Rinoa and trusted her implicitly, but to him she was as pure as the wings that sprouted from her back when she evoked her powers. Sure, Rinoa had seen plenty with them while battling Ultimecia, and she had seen plenty on her own while helping Timber's revolution, but fighting monsters and plotting on a train car were very different than watching your boyfriend kill someone with his bare hands. Rinoa's hands, in essence, were clean, and he intended to keep it that way. He was her knight, it was his duty.

Mia cleared her throat and straightened her posture, military training kicking into effect as she began her story, "As you know, I've been under a contract with the League of Nations for some time."

"Your report is fairly sparse" Quistis commented.

"And I intend to keep it that way, Quisty. I can further de-brief you in person, there are things that many people would be upset if I put them on piece of paper," she stood up and strolled over to Quistis' desk, opening a manila folder and pulled some pictures out, "Delegate Herzog is currently under the impression that I am still his client, though as you know I am mainly working for the Chancellor. His Lordship doesn't trust Herzog, and for good reason."

"What about Caraway?" Squall walked over from his desk to look at the pictures Mia had brought.

"Haven't been under contract with him for years, and you know I won't work for him again," Mia pressed her finger down on his photo as if trying to squeeze the life out of the subject, covering General Caraway's eyes, his annoying green, familiar eyes.

"You won't work for Caraway but you are willing to protect his daughter?" Squall was about to continue when Quistis placed a hand on his shoulder, "let it go, Squall, there are sometimes things you don't need to understand. Please continue, Mia."

Mia snapped out of her trance, "Anyway, Herzog knows that if you kill a Sorceress she needs to transfer her powers. He intends on making sure those powers get transferred to someone he can control, thus giving him the power to take over the whole League. Same old story, right?"

"So, basically, Herzog plans on kidnapping Rinoa and then killing her in some sort of secluded place ensuring that her powers get transferred to the person of his choice?" Quistis placed on her glasses and looked at the file thoughtfully as she continued, "Any idea who it is? Or where they plan on doing this?"

Squall pounded his fist on the desk, "Dammit! Isn't it obvious?"

Mia looked over at him hesitantly, "Part of it, yes, but we still need more information. And confirmation."

"What about the Chancellor, can he help?" Qustis asked while quickly scanning over the man's file.

Squall snorted at Quistis' comment, eliciting a small chuckle from Mia, "Quistis, get real, the Chancellor dislikes Rinoa just as much as Herzog does, except instead of trying to control her powers, the Chancellor wants to freeze her in Esthar. Caraway and Lagu- I mean, President Loire, are the only ones preventing that from happening right now."

Squall sighed. _Laguna_. A decent ally, but a total doofus. Squall doubted his ability to dress himself in the morning let alone run a country and continue to convince the government to leave Rinoa alone, "So what else do we need, Mia?"

"We need to be in Dollet in 3 days," Mia shuffled through the papers again and pulled up a few sheets of paper with a photo attached, "him, we need this guy. He should have lists of all of Herzog's political financial records it should give us an idea of who is in his corner that we may not be aware of."

"Affirmative. We'll leave the tomorrow and be back in time for the Fall Festival." _because if I missed it, Rinoa would kill me, and Selphie would bring me back to life just to kill me again_, "Quistis, you'll come with us too."

Quistis nodded, "Got it. Squall, don't you think we should have someone guard Rinoa... just in case?"

Squall went through a mental checklist of people he would entrust Rinoa's protection to: Selphie was too caught up planning the Fall Festival, and Irvine was dragged into helping her, Zell was in Balamb visiting Ma and Xu would have to run the Garden in their absence. There was no other choice, "Rinoa will come with us. Need-to-know only, right? The safest place she will be is with me."

"I agree," Mia shuffled up the papers and stuffed them into her bag unceremoniously, crumpling the papers audibly. Squall visibly flinched as she shoved them further down in order to fit, "well if there is nothing else..." Mia gave a half salute and headed towards the door.

"Mia," Squall's voice made her pause, "please... with Rinoa."

Mia nodded, she knew what he meant anyway. Don't mess with her head, don't screw her up, don't drag her into the gutter, don't get her involved, _don't get blood on her hands_. "Don't worry, Squall, I've got just as much invested as you do."

As she left, Squall glanced at Quistis in confusion. Mia's over-enthusiasm in the whole situation was strange, and from past experience he knew that she only tended to get involved with things she thought she could somehow use to her advantage later. Her interest in Rinoa made him uneasy. While he didn't suspect anything maleficent it certainly wasn't innocent, he felt like the answer was staring him in the face but he somehow couldn't grasp it. Squall noticed Quistis seemed to be purposefully avoiding his gaze which meant only one thing: she knew something. Squall knew better than to try to convince her to tell him, but maybe... "Quistis..."

Quistis closed the drawer in her desk a little more roughly than necessary, "It's her business, Squall, she'll tell you when she's ready. I would tell you if you needed to know. So just don't go there."

"I know. It's not about that. Quistis, look at me," he looked over at her and met her eyes, "did you check her cigarette case?"

Quistis held his gaze, replying earnestly, "I never got the chance. She was clean today, I'm pretty sure."

"For now at least," Squall mumbled under his breath, praying to Hyne that Mia wasn't holed up in Garden somewhere with a needle in her arm. _Your body may live past 25, but your mind won't_..., "No shit, Mia. Why didn't you just use the GFs."

Squall hadn't realized he had mumbled that part out loud until Quistis answered quietly, "She can't forgive herself. This is her penance. She won't fail." _All her past can be forgiven if she can protect Rinoa_. Squall hoped for all of their lives that Quistis was right.

* * *

"So, what is it exactly that we're doing?" Rinoa skipped in step to keep up with Squall's long and rapid stride from the train station outside of Dollet to the main part of town, "I'm just surprised you brought me, not that I'm complaining."

Squall slowed his pace slightly to let Rinoa catch up, "I don't have all the details on the mission other than the target. Quistis is going to debrief us more when we get into Dollet and Mia is going to meet us at the hotel," he paused and reached out to grab her hand, squeezing it gently, "Just, stay close to me."

Rinoa smiled at his words and let go of his grasp, only to loop her arm around his. Deep down she wondered if he even remembered having said those to her before, "yessir, Commander," she winked up at him eliciting an eye roll from Squall, though it was accompanied by the faintest hint of a blush.

They walked arm in arm the rest of the walk in silence, Squalls eyes scanning the area for any possible threat with every step and Rinoa blissfully unaware of how much danger she might be in. Quistis met them near the fountain to inform them she had already checked into the hotel and the three headed there together. Walking into one of the rooms, Rinoa and Squall dumped their equipment on the floor and turned to Quistis expectantly.

Quistis was glancing over her shoulder uncomfortably, "Ok, Mia should be here soon. She's been on recon," Quistis handed a hotel key to Squall, "Um...we have two rooms, I don't know where you want everyone to sleep..." she was thankfully saved from finishing that awkward statement by pounding on the door.

Quistis glanced through the peephole and opened the door. Mia entered briskly, wiggling a data card between her fingers, "Okay, got it," she announced triumphantly.

"What do you mean 'got it'? We just got here," Squall said as he snatched the card from her hand.

"Jeez, why don't you say, 'hey, thanks for getting all the work done and giving us a free vacation, Mia'. Or maybe 'hey thanks for this sweet hotel on Garden's dime, Mia. Thanks for getting all the dirty work done, Mia'," Mia rolled her eyes and pulled her gun out of its holster, unloading the clip and placing it on the table, "Had I KNOWN it would have been that easy, obviously I would have gone alone."

Squall pulled out his laptop and clicked the card into the port, loading data into his hard drive, "So.. it's all here? Any clean up I have to worry about or assault complaints Garden will be hearing about?"

"I'll take that as a 'thank you', Squall. It's all on the damn card."

Quistis glanced over Squall's shoulder, quickly scanning the data provided, "How did you get this?"

Mia smiled and looked over at Rinoa, who had been rifling through the mini-bar, catching her gaze. She winked at Rinoa and turned her gaze to Quistis, her eyes sparkling, "our target? Turns out, I know what he likes."

A sweatdrop formed on Rinoa's forehead as she opened her can of soda loudly.

"By the way, Quistis," Mia reached into her bag and extracted Quistis' beloved whip, 'Save the Queen', "I borrowed this, I hope you don't mind."

Rinoa spit out the drink she had just started sipping giving Squall and his laptop a syrupy shower. Squall flicked a drop of cola from his hair and shook his head, burying his face in his hands _this has to just be a bad dream_.

Quistis' eye was twitching as she glared at Mia from across the room though there was the faintest hint of a humor on her face, "You had better clean that."

Mia laughed and uncoiled the whip, snapping into the air loudly, "Come on, Quisty, I'm not that thoughtless. I'm not gonna ruin your favorite toy."

Between Squall and Quistis' reaction, Squall being covered in cola and the whole absurdity of the fact that this was allegedly a serious mission Rinoa found herself almost to the point of tears she was laughing so hard, "Ah.. she's...right, Quistis, haha, I'm sure your, heehee BOYFRIEND would.. ahahah" she couldn't even finish the comment gripping her stomach and trying to control her laughter.

"You TOLD HER?" Quistis groaned. If Rinoa knew about Seifer, it meant that Selphie eventually would, and at that point she may as well have screamed it into the Garden loudspeaker.

Rinoa's laughter subsided enough for her to form a sentence, "She didn't tell me anything. I suspected, but you reaction just confirmed it.. I.." she started laughing uncontrollably once more. Her pleasant laughter was contagious and eventually all three women were in fits. Had they been able to see Squall's face from behind it's place buried behind his hands, they would have seen a very faint smile in response to the sound of Rinoa's laughter. His small joys aside however, they were on a mission and he knew that if he didn't pull everyone back on task now, things would snowball quickly.

After another minute of the ongoing cycle between moments when one of the women would try to speak and fail, leading to another fit nonstop laughter, he began to tap his foot on the floor impatiently. When Rinoa started laughing while she was trying to drink her offending cola again and ended up nearly choking, coughing and laughing so hard she fell to the floor, his patience finally cracked, "SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO DO A JOB HERE," he stood up, knocking the chair back from the desk his voice dropping to a normal volume, "Some of us at least pretend to be professional," he paused and looked down at Rinoa from her position on the floor, laughter gone, "though, Rinoa I.. I'm pretty impressed by your sneakiness."

The room had became deadly silent at his outburst. After his secondary comment, the four occupants of the room glanced from one to another and all started laughing again, Squall even allowing himself to find the humor in the evening and actually laughing audibly.

After composing herself and gasping for air, Quistis managed to speak, "Okay, okay, Squall, we'll be good, seriously,"

Squall rolled his eyes and sat down _yeah right_. As the tone of the room shifted he couldn't help the words that slipped from his mouth, "Mia, can you get through one mission without having to do anyone any 'favors'?"

To an outside observer, they may have viewed Squall's comment as callous, but Rinoa knew him well enough to read between the lines. It wasn't just a matter of protocol and rules; he felt sad for her. It was like a young child who made fun of another child who wets the bed when they are older. The children make fun of each other because what they see is a possibility in themselves. Fear. If I hate it and make fun of it, _it can never happen to me_. You are afraid of what you maybe are or may become. Something clicked in Rinoa's mind _Mia must always feel alone._Just like Squall.

Thankfully for Squall, Rinoa had entered his life, saving him from a fate of eventually having a heart that was incapable of intimacy. Rinoa glanced over at Mia, though she did not see any pain in her face from Squall's harsh comment, she still she felt the need to comfort her, "Mia, he didn't mean it like that."

"I know. I know what he meant," Mia waved her hand dismissively, "Squall, not all of us are as lucky as you. Sex is a valuable currency in this world. But one you can only use if you don't let your emotions get involved. Honestly, it doesn't even phase me, for me it's about just as mundane as it is for you to work on papers at your desk."

"That might be one of the most depressing things I've ever heard," Rinoa said honestly searching the girls face for any hints of exaggeration or regret or fear. She found nothing.

"Rinoa, I'm damn good at my job, even Squall will admit that. SeeD comes with a price, we pay it in different ways. I'm older, I've been around longer, and when I was a cadet things were a bit different. I mean, look at Xu, same class as me, she is like the model of discipline and I'm sure has never done what I've done, but have you ever seen her with a boyfriend?"

Rinoa shook her head, "No.. I guess not."

"Exactly. We are both alone and it has nothing to do with how we might go about doing our job. Fact of the matter is, at some point we SeeD become machines. You can't fit in an emotional life, a love life... any of that, it doesn't compute when you spend your life surviving on auto pilot and instinct. If something doesn't fit into our program, it can't exist. We wouldn't even know how to function. So trust me when I say, you guys are lucky."

No one responded, and quite frankly Mia hadn't expected them to, deciding it was best to attempt to change the tone of the room she spoke again, "that goes for you too by the way, Ms. Trepe, or should I say the future Mrs. Alm-" Mia was cut off as a pen hit her squarely in the nose.

Mia rubbed her nose where the offending pen had hit her and turned to Quistis, "Okay, I deserved that. Come on, Queen, let's you and me take the other room and give these two love-birds some privacy," she pulled out the 'Save the Queen' again, whooshing it dangerously close to Quistis' feet.

"Ack! You are seriously bleaching that thing!" It was said in laughter, as Quistis grabbed her things together and followed Mia out of the room, shutting the door behind them. From behind the closed door, another whip crack was heard followed by two voices laughing.

Rinoa smiled as they left and turned towards Squall, "sooooo um, that was nice of them to give us some privacy," she leaned against the desk so that she could face him and shuffled her feet on the ground nervously.

Squall looked up and smiled at her, reaching out to grab her hips and pull her onto his lap, "It was. I should work but, this data can wait until we get back to Garden, I guess," he mumbled while placing a kiss on her neck, causing a shiver to run along Rinoa's spine.

Rinoa turned her head to face him, catching his lips and curving her body towards his and shifting on his lap, causing Squall's arms to wrap more tightly around her. _Maybe... just maybe_. His hands wrapped around her neck and combed through her hair as he kissed her and Rinoa felt burning along her senses. Every inch of her skin felt like her nerve endings were on overdrive, and every place Squall touched was excruciatingly and almost uncomfortably wonderful. Her whole body was alive and she swore she could smell things more sharply, hear things more clearly. On top of the information provided Squall was providing verbally, she was patently aware of all the things flashing rapidly in his head, running at such a fast pace she could barely tell them apart. The overarching theme was obvious though, he was clearly utterly and hopelessly in love with her.

Squall paused and pulled back slightly to look into Rinoa's eyes. At some point, Rinoa wasn't even sure when, he had carried her onto the bed in the hotel room and had was now leaning over her, piercing her with his gaze. His eyes mirrored all of the things she had felt and heard from his mind, and something else she hadn't. Something painfully obvious: he wanted her. Completely. And by Hyne, so did she.

He smiled at the unspoken consent her eyes and lips held and leaned down bury his face against her neck.

_I love you._

"I know," Rinoa responded out loud, unaware his words had not been spoken, "I love you too."

Squall pulled back and looked at her again curiously, then shook his head, smiling, "I.. never mind." Surprisingly, the mind reading didn't bother him. He placed a small kiss on her lips and then turned his attention to her neck again as his hands tentatively began to roam uncharted territory. His heart was pounding and echoing in his ears so loudly he was sure Rinoa must have been able to hear it. He was finally beginning to get past his nerves, get past his insecurity that she might not enjoy things or maybe she wasn't ready; as he was starting to allow himself to accept the fact that this was happening and just enjoy it, the sound of maniacal laughter pierced through the wall along with the unmistakable sound of Quistis squealing.

Squall pulled back from Rinoa and flopped onto his back with a loud groan. _The walls are thin, great_. There was no way he could now, not with an audience. He groaned again thunked his forehead with the heel of his palm repeatedly, "great. fucking great..." he muttered and looked over at Rinoa.

She was smiling a disappointed smile, "I know..." she turned onto her side and looked at him, "But, you know.. um, kissing won't make that much noise, right?"

Squall laughed and pulled her into his arms, rolling her on top of him, "No.. guess not," he mumbled against her lips.

* * *

It was some time later when they both were awoken by a loud noise from the other room. Rinoa sat up quickly, her eyes darting around the room wildly as she instinctively pulled the bed covers around her tightly. Squall had flown out of the bed and already had his hand on the hilt of his gunblade when they heard another noise. A sound that was unmistakably a gunshot coming from the adjoining room.

Squall grabbed Rinoa somewhat roughly and pulled her out of the bed, "we need to go now, hurry..." he whispered, dragging her to the balcony and peering down, as she tried to shake the sleep from her brain. He was glancing around, trying to figure out the best way to get down from the 4th floor landing they were currently on when he spotted a gutter snaking down the building, "This is it then," as he said it, he realized Rinoa was no longer next to him and he suddenly panicked. He was about to scream her name when she dashed back from the room, two pairs of boots and computer in tow and the data card that Mia had procured sticking out of her mouth.

"This way," he nodded towards the gutter and swung himself over the railing, carefully positioning himself so he could scale down the wall.

Rinoa had not-so-gently tossed their boots and the computer over the balcony, destroying it with an audibly crash, effectively destroying any valuable evidence an intruder might be after. She winked down at Squall before daintily sliding onto the gutter herself.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he whispered as he looked up at her as she scaled down above him.

"gdlm slgo lokgid skfih," Rinoa replied, or at least attempted to, but her words were muffled by the data card she was holding onto with her teeth.

Once they reached the bottom, she pulled the data card out of her mouth and handed it to Squall smiling, "I meant.. you know you were calling me amazing while having a prime view under my nightie... which officially makes you worse than Irvine."

He pulled on his boots quickly and was about to retort when he saw a figure crash through the balcony doors of the room adjoining theirs, and back flip somewhat clumsily off the balcony, landing on the bridge above them. Squall raised his gunblade and stepped in front of Rinoa protectively, who was desperately trying to pull her own boots on.

"It's me," Mia's voice hissed, "you two get out of here..." Two figures burst out from the balcony she had just jumped from and peered down, Squall didn't have time to pull Rinoa into the shadows of the street below.

"THE SORCERESS! She's here!"

Gunfire erupted and Rinoa was dragged under the bridge for cover, Squall pushing her against the wall and pressing against her, shielding her. The gunfire quickly halted and Squall pressed a finger to her lips to request silence, mouthing, "wait here..." as he gingerly stepped out from under their cover. He peered upwards to see that Mia had quickly scaled her way up the wall had made her way onto the balcony and already had one assailant's body at her feet and her knife against the neck of the other shooter. Rinoa stumbled out behind Squall and the man Mia was holding fired his gun at Rinoa at the same time Mia's knife cleanly sliced his throat.

"PROTECT!" Rinoa shouted, and the bullet hovered in the air and then dropped inches from her shoulder. It wouldn't have been a fatal shot had it connected, but it certainly would have hurt. Mia flipped down from the balcony and landed much more gracefully than her previous attempt on the street below. She quickly wiped the blood off of her knife onto her shirt and nodded to the couple, tilting her head towards the east end of the narrow street.

Rinoa and Squall began to follow her when Rinoa paused, feeling a drop on her shoulder... _It's raining_? She glanced at her shirt and saw a perfectly round red stain where she had felt the drop. She looked up to see drops of blood gracefully dripping from the elegant hotel balcony like raindrops. It would have been artistic if it wasn't so morbid. She gulped and felt a wave of nausea. This was not the time, however. Shaking her head she squeezed Squall's hand for strength.

"Just stay close to me..." he heard him whisper to her as they hurried down the alley.

The figure in front of them skidded to a halt and put her hand up motioning for them to stop as well. Rinoa suddenly felt an excruciating pressure in her head, so overwhelming she almost screamed. Sucking in a sharp breath she tried to concentrate on the pounding, realizing it was undoubtedly Mia's voice chanting over and over in her brain, "Rinoa magic, ready, Rinoa magic, ready, Rinoa... ready ready soon, Rinoa..."

The booming voice became less painful and eventually stopped as the spell quickly formed within her fingers. She must have had good timing, for the second she began to form the Firaga, two armed shadows turned around the corner to face them. Rinoa hesitated, and that was all the time it took for one of the hooded figures to lift up its weapon pointing it at Rinoa. The weapon looked like a...

"SHIT"

**BANG**

Rinoa was sure this was the end and shut her eyes tightly as she heard the weapon discharge. She heard a high pitched zing near her ear and felt the warm splash of blood across her back before she was knocked down to the ground by a heavy object behind her.

Whatever had fallen on her was now trapping her to the ground. Before she could even register the fact that she was still alive or figure out what was going on, someone's hand was pulling her up from under her trap, "come on, we have to get out of here..."

"Quistis...?" Rinoa saw familiar blue eyes behind the hood of the person that had pulled her up. She looked over at her shooter and realized her first instinct as to the weapon he was holding was right, Hyperion was in his hand, the barrel smoking. She looked down to see what had knocked her to the ground, seeing the body of a man with a knife in his hand, heat quickly evaporating off him in the night air. Seifer had just saved her life.

Squall called out from the shadows, "Come on... this alley is clear now."

Quistis' firm and comforting grip continued to pull Rinoa after her as Mia and Squall took the lead and Seifer took the rear. They slowly made their way through the back streets of Dollet and out of the city. Every once and a while, Rinoa would stumble over something on the street, and Quistis' strong hold would prevent her from completely falling. At one point she stumbled hard enough to get close enough to smell one of the obstacles in their path. She smelled the unmistakable metallic odor of flesh and didn't need to get a closer to know what she was walking over. She was entering a battle field that was being meticulously cleared out by the two people leading the group. Rinoa felt nauseated, the dizziness she felt earlier coming back and she couldn't shake it this time.

"Squall!" Quistis' voice, "I think she's.."

Strong arms lifted her and she smelled Squall's familiar and unique scent washed away the bitter taste in her mouth before she let unconsciousness take her.

* * *

She awoke to the sound of burning wood. She was lying down in a small clearing in the forest and her four companions were sitting around a fire and taking in hushed voices. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but she did not see any signs of a city close by. She pulled herself up slowly and the voices paused.

"Rin?" Squall stood up and walked over to her, crouching down, "are you... are you okay?" he asked softly as she dragged herself to a seating position.

"Yes.. I think I must have fainted," she looked up at him and furrowed her brow slightly, "what's going on?"

"Come on," he stood up and offered his hand down to her, helping her stand as well. Leading her over closer to the fire he sat down on a log. Rinoa made motions to sit down next to him, but instead he pulled her in between his legs, sitting her down in front of her and wrapping his arms around her, "I.. was worried. Are you sure you're okay?" he whispered again softly.

Rinoa nodded, "not injured anyway... why... seriously what is going on?" she said a little more forcefully.

Seifer, who was carefully cleaning his gunblade, looked up, "you may as well tell her, she'll annoy us all to death unless you don't."

"SEIFER!" Quistis' hissed over at him before looking at Rinoa softly, "We were here to gather some information regarding a plan to subdue the sorceress."

"You mean me," Rinoa offered.

"Yes," Quistis shifted uncomfortably, "um.. some help, guys?"

Squall's voice echoed from behind her, "Mia came to warn us of a plan within the League of Nations to kidnap you," he didn't feel it necessary to tell her that they planned on executing her and stealing her powers, getting worried about being kidnapped was bad enough, "we were following a lead to get more information. Had I known it would be this dangerous..."

Rinoa glanced over her shoulder to look up at him, "Squall...I'm a Sorceress, I can handle myself, you know. And I fought Ultimecia with you guys. I can help," she huffed and blew her bangs from her eyes in annoyance. Sometimes being around SeeD could make you feel so little. Like everyone else was in some secret club and you weren't invited. While she knew deep down she was just as much a member of her group of friends as anyone else, she couldn't help but always feel like she was left behind.

"Rinoa, we know," she was surprised when it was Seifer who offered words to comfort her, "but, no one should desire blood on their hands. Not when they don't have to."

Rinoa nodded and the group remained silent, the only sound the crackling of the fire in front of them. The night seemed to drag on for an eternity. What seemed like hours later, the silence was finally broken.

"Um, Squall?"

"What do you want, Seifer?"

"Um... you do know that you're not wearing a shirt right?"

"Shut up, Seifer."

"I'm just saying, you can borrow my coat, puberty boy."

"..."

Rinoa laughed and eventually the rest of them joined in her laughter. She had completely forgotten that they had dashed from the hotel wearing what they had slept in. At least she had remembered to grab their boots. Rinoa shivered and felt Squall's arms tighten around him as he leaned down closer to her. As she felt his skin against her bare arms, she wondered how on earth she hadn't realized he was shirtless before. _Must have been adrenaline._ The brief bought of laughter had done the trick of cutting the tension of the night and the group relaxed slightly. Eventually Rinoa found herself falling asleep once again against Squall's warm chest.

* * *

AN: Okay... plot is starting to pick up. I just move slowly I guess  
Read and Review please... this is my first time :)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own FF8

**Part III:**

_"Mister Laguna!"  
_

_Laguna peered down at the small figure running up to him, Timber Maniacs in hand, she must have been a few years older than Ellone, "O! What can I do for you, young lady?"  
_

_"I can't believe you're here in the Maniacs' building... I read all your stories," her green eyes stared up at him adoringly.  
_

_Laguna chuckled, "You're pretty young to be reading all that. Do your parents get the magazine?"_

_The girl shook her head, "No. I deliver them. This is my job," she placed her hands on her hips proudly._

_Laguna grinned, "Wow! So you might be my boss!" He said playfully, "So, boss, what is your name?"_

_The little girl's eyes shined. Mister Laguna was talking to her! She had dreamed of this day for over a year, "Penelope. My name is Penelope..."_

_"That's a nice name... can I call you Penny?"_

* * *

Rinoa idly forked the food on her plate, resting her chin on her fist as she stared out into the cafeteria. The mission in Dollet had left her uneasy. When fighting Ultimecia, things had been black and white. The past enemy had been obvious, and in reality most of their battles were with monsters and not people. While in Timber she always understood there were risks and knew fundamentally that people might lose their lives, but seeing it happen in front of your eyes is a very different thing. She was an idealist. Knowing about a side effect versus feeling someone else's blood on your body... it had changed. That person was someone's son, maybe father, maybe lover, he was someone to somebody, and now he was dead. He was dead and she was alive. She much preferred a world that was black and white, however naive that may seen. Then again in that world, which side did the sorceress fall on?

She somewhat sympathized with the people who were scared of her... not that it gave them any justification to SHOOT her, but she understood their fear. The second she was able to relate to them good versus bad no longer was obvious. Was she the bad guy? Was she just being selfish in wanting to live? Maybe the idea of being 'for the greater good' was true... wasn't that what she always supported in Timber? Rinoa leaned back in her chair and shoved her tray towards the center of the table.

She knew that if she was possessed again she wouldn't hesitate to be frozen in Esthar. She had a knight. For the most part she stayed in Garden, keeping her within killing range of SeeD at all time. She had helped kill the sorceress from the future, effectively minimizing the risk of possession anyway... and quite frankly, she was not the prototype of a threatening person. She was the person who caught spiders and carried them between a cup and a piece of paper, freeing them outside instead of squishing them despite the fact that she was terrified of them. She was about the least mean person on the planet. Why couldn't they just let her live in peace? She thumped her head against the table with a sigh.

"Long day?" A tray was placed on the table next to where her head was currently resting.

Rinoa wearily tilted her head to the side to identify the owner, "Hey Zell."

Zell reached over her to grab a bottle of ketchup and begin to pour it on his tray of hotdogs, "No offense Rinny, but you look terrible."

"Thanks Zell," she dragged herself off the table and leaned back, slouching in her chair, "how was your day?"

"Pretty good, Selphie had me help her put up the last of the decorations for the festival... which by the way, remind me to never be in Garden when she plans another one of these things, she made me move a 70 kilogram paper mache gourd 6 times."

Rinoa managed a smile, Zell was always able to do that to her. Selphie kept her sane, Zell kept her laughing.

"Seriously though, what's up? Or did Selphie make you listen to the CD she made of possible music choices? Seriously, did you have any idea how many songs had the word 'turkey' in them?"

"No..." Rinoa chewed on her lip thoughtfully, she knew Zell was trying to distract her and pull her out of her melancholy, but she couldn't help but ruminate on the ideas running through her brain, "Zell, do you think things will ever be normal?"

"Huh?"

"Am I ever just going to be able to live?" she continued.

"Um, Rin..."

"I just turned 18! I just fell in love, are people ever just...just going to leave me alone?" She balled her hands into fists and shoved them into her lap, tears burning behind her eyes, threatening to spill.

Zell looked over at her slightly panicked as people began to glance over at their table. The last thing Rinoa needed was to cry hysterically in the middle of the Garden Cafeteria, it was certainly not going to do her any favors in terms of trying to prove she was mentally stable, "Rin..." he scooted his chair closer to hers and placed a hand on her back, "Rinoa, don't cry."

Rinoa closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, sniffing loudly afraid to speak. Attempting to form anything audible ensured that she would make a spectacle of herself at Garden, and she had to pull herself together. A bitter thought crossed her mind. _What kind of life is this anyway?_ _Where I am too afraid to be able to express anything I feel? Showing an ounce of sadness or frustration could possibly equate to being frozen in time._ This was not the life anyone would dream of. All the power in the world, but at what price? Once again she found herself empathizing with Ultimecia. Being a Sorceress of the future must have been an isolating business, and long term isolation eventually will drive you mad.

While Zell seemed clueless to most people, he actually had a fairly high emotional IQ. While he may not have been able to verbally explain what was going on, or offer the most profound words of comfort, but he was aware that Rinoa was in conflict. He began to reach for Rinoa and pull her into a hug as she collapsed into his chest, stifling sobs. Zell gently rest his hand on Rinoa's hair, "Hey, Rin. Shhh... look, it might not be perfect, but you'll always have Squall, and all of us."

She nodded mutely, taking a ragged breath.

"Life is what you make of it. Make whatever you can with what you're given. Look at all of the rest of us... none of us had remotely ideal situations but..."

"I know Zell," she mumbled into his chest, "thank you." She pulled away and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"Ewwww..." Zell stuck his tongue out as she used her sleeve as a tissue, "I love ya, Rin, but seriously? Gross."

Rinoa broke into a wide smile and laughed, "you're lucky I didn't wipe it on you!"

He smirked at stood, offering his hand to her, "come on, lets get out of here and blow off some steam in the training center."

She nodded and accepted his hand. Zell was right in a lot of ways. She was not alone, and she never would be. Even if the world was her enemy...

* * *

The grat crashed to the floor of the training center, causing dust to rise into the air clouding Rinoa's vision, "phew!" she adjusted her Shooting Star.

"Alright!" Zell punched his fist into the air triumphantly before settling back into a boxing step, bouncing on his heels, "feels good, right, Rin? Nothing like endorphins for the soul."

Rinoa tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled, eyes squinting through the dusty air to try to make out her companion, "it does, though I am really rusty with my blaster, apparently."

"Why don't you use your magic?" Unbeknownst to Zell and Rinoa, they had an audience.

"Huh?"

"Your magic," a hand gently gripped Rinoa's wrist and turned her palm up, "this is the best weapon you have." As the dust settled Mia's face came into view, "weapons are liabilities. They always have the possibility of eventually being used against you. Your hands will always belong to you." She motioned her head towards Zell, "I'm sure your grappler friend there would agree."

Rinoa blushed, feeling incredibly self-concious, "Oh... I guess it just isn't the first thing I think of and... I feel strange using it."

"You shouldn't care so much what people think, Rinoa. To the people who matter, magic or not, you're still Rinoa, you know?" Mia let go of Rinoa's wrist and adjusted the leather glovelets she donned, "May I join you? Maybe I can teach blondie over here something, or at the very least demonstrate good tattoo placement."

Zell trotted over to the two women, scanning Mia quickly, "no weapons, huh?" he smirked, "You don't have the body of a boxer, too waif-y. Krav Mgra? No, too graceful looking. Ninjutsu?" Zell winked, pointing his thumb towards his face, "Nailed it. And this tattoo? It takes balls to pull this off."

Mia smiled, "You must be Zell. You have balls, yes, but you would make a terrible spy with that thing. Not very good at staying anonymous with it." she winked, "I'm Mia and you are correct... ninjutsu taijustu, hensojutsu, shinobi-iri and intonjutsu to be exact"

Zell raised an eyebrow, a specialist in unarmed combat, impersonation, stealth and escape, "That Mia? Trabia Mia?"

Mia smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know."

Zell stretched his hands above his head, cracking his neck loudly, "Well, considering I can see the huge tattoo on your back, kind of a give away. Though, didn't picture you with sunglasses, especially inside. Too cool for school?"

Mia pulled her sunglasses down and squinted over at Zell, "yeah, well, I think I'm a celebrity... that and I have a wicked hang over but promised Xu I would teach her combat class."

Rinoa suddenly burst into laughter, "Selphie's drinking game, right?" She shook her head, "let me guess, she enforced an extra rule where you had to take shots if the Luca Goers scored in blitzball?" All of them at one point or another had fallen victim to Selphie's insanely high tolerance despite barely weighing more than most nine year olds. That and she enjoyed pranks a lot.

Mia shook her head, "Unfortunately yes, and the game was a total shut out, though my memory is kind of fuzzy."

"Oldest trick in the book..." Zell winked over at Rinoa, "you know Selphie is like, a blitzball expert, right?"

"Huh?" Mia slapped her hand against her forehead, "that little..." a sneaky play to say the least, "There are going to be pictures aren't there..."

Zell slapped a hand against her back gently eliciting a wince from Mia, "We've all been there. Selphie once drew with a sharpie all over my face to see what it would look like if my tattoo was bigger. It took a week before I could actually get it off."

Rinoa piped up, "don't forget about..."

Zell sighed, "Yes, there was also the time that she convinced me to dye my hair purple."

Rinoa grinned playfully, "annnnddd..."

"The voicemail to the library girl..." Zell admitted. As Rinoa was about to open her mouth again, he darted his eyes over to her threateningly, "And, Rinoa Hearilly let's not forget about YOUR trip to Deling and the piercing parlor at one am in combination with buying four kittens which subsequently led to Squall enacting a rule about body jewelry and Selphie having to write an essay on proper military conduct. "

Rinoa coughed, "So anyway, Mia, you're teaching for Xu, huh? Anything in particular?"

Mia shifted a bit, "Um... solo mission techniques." THAT wasn't cryptic.

"Solo... mission?" Rinoa cocked her head.

"Assassinations," Zell supplied.

"Assassin?" Rinoa hmmed thoughtfully, "I thought they were mostly snipers, right? Doesn't YOUR tattoo kind of make that moot?"

"Snipers, hmph," Mia clicked her tongue in disgust as she relaxed into a fighting stance, gracefully beginning a simple vinyasa, "Snipers, Rinoa, are only good for sniping," she did a back hand spring, landing on a rock, "good to take out a target from far away. Whereas assassins..." she jumped off the rock, tumbling onto the ground before landing at Zell's feet, her hand in the air near his chest as she continued, "assassins have to look the target in the eye. When you hire an assassin its because you want your target to know exactly who is after them," she stood up, Zell grasping the hand that was near his chest in his hand, "It is very hard to kill someone after you look them in the eye. Snipers are cowards. Grapplers are not... aren't I right, Zell?"

Zell released her hand, "nice move. Breaking my sternum would have hurt though, you know," he jabbed forward at her and Mia ducked the move easily, attempting to sweep her leg under his feet. He somersaulted over Mia and landed behind her, gripping his arm across her chest and holding her back, "got ya." Rinoa watched the two spar in fascination. It was like watching a dance.

"Zell, is that a tiger in your pocket? Or are you just happy to see me?"

"What?" Zell blushed, the distraction was enough for him to loosen his grip, however, giving Mia leverage to push her body into his, slamming them both into the ground. During their descent she twisted her body so that she was above him holding him to the ground. She smiled down at him, "oldest trick in the book." She stood up and dusted herself off, "That was fun, let's do that again sometime."

Rinoa shook her head, "Yeah, but, if people can recognize you, doesn't that make it all sort of... pointless?"

Mia smiled, cracking her knuckles, "No, Rinoa, that IS the point. People might not recognize my face, but they know my tattoo. You hear, 'he was killed by the girl with the dragon on her back.' or, 'a woman with a dragon came in', eventually the mark itself sends fear through people. Eventually I am no longer Mia but, 'the woman with the tattoo,' and eventually just, 'Dragon woman'. Reputation is a very powerful thing. Besides, no one could pick me out of a line up unless they saw me without my shirt on. They see the tattoo and they forget the face."

"Like Squall. His scar. To people who don't know him, his scar defines him," Rinoa concluded softly under her breath.

Zell hopped up from the ground, "Having your birthday tattooed to your body isn't the best idea though. April 17, September 7, March 3...which one is it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your leg. The dates. What are they?" Zell motioned to her calf and Rinoa looked down, it just looked like a tattoo of a bunch of scribbles. Though the scribbles did look somewhat organized. Wait, they looked familiar, she had seen scribbles like that before...

"You read ancient Centran, Zell?" Of course, it was the same writing that was in Odin's tower.

Zell shrugged, "took a class." Most people underestimated Zell's intelligence and it was definitely a mistake. One that he was aware of and used to his advantage.

Mia nibbled on her bottom lip and looked over at Zell, a flicker of mischief in her eyes, "You... are very interesting," she purred, "though, the date in question, is not my birthday. I'm flattered you thought I was only 23."

Rinoa felt an undeniable flicker of emotion coming from Mia. It was an emotion she had felt before, which was why she locked onto it, a combination of pain, loss, confusion, anger and fear. Something she had pushed into the far corners of her mind years ago, because feeling it meant accepting what caused it in the first place, "Your mom..." she mumbled under her breath, "It's the day your mom died."

Mia nodded, "When I was five. Dad's still alive though." she added with a touch of bitterness. "Anyway," she shook her head, no desire to relive her own memories, "come on Rinoa, let's get you ready for the Fall festival and see if we can't make the Commander speechless in public." She rubbed her hands together with a devilish look on her face, "better yet, let's see if beyond that we can get him to show an emotion other than anal retentiveness in public... how you you feel about plunging necklines and sequence?"

* * *

_"Penny," Laguna knocked on the door, "Penny, you left your sweater at the Maniacs, I looked up your address to bring it." Laguna heard light footed shuffling behind the door and the creak of a peep hole, but no response, "I can hear you behind the door..."_

_The door opened, chain still in place as a small face peered out, "Oh... thanks, Laguna."_

_Laguna smiled, "No problem. Are you going to let me in?"_

_The door shut and the chain clinked, Penny opened it and quickly stepped into the hallway, "Um, it's really messy."_

_Laguna chuckled, "I'm sure its not that bad. Is your mom home?"_

_Penny shook her head, avoiding Laguna's eyes._

_"Penny... what is going on?" he reached behind her to open the door as she stayed rooted in the hallway, eyes to the floor._

_The apartment was dark, he flipped on the light switch and it remained that way. No power. Glancing around the room he noticed a blanket and pillow on the floor, some food, clothing, no furniture. "You live here alone," he turned back to her, "You live alone? You're only seven, you can't be living alone! Where are your parents?"_

_"Gone."_

_Laguna strode out of the apartment and shut the door, kneeling in front of the girl, "You're a child, you need to have a childhood. I know of a woman, she takes care of kids like you, her husband runs a school, a big Garden where you can learn and play and have a bed. Doesn't that sound good?"_

_Penny nodded and threw her arms around Laguna's neck, "I knew... I knew when I read your stories you would come save me...and I promise I'll get big and strong, and then I will pay you back, I'll save you, okay?"_

_"You don't owe me anything, Penny, promise you'll get big and strong, study hard in school, be a good girl and turn into a lovely woman."_

_"And then when I'm a woman we can get married!"_

_Laguna chuckled, "maybe." Laguna never imagined that young Penny would become one of the deadliest SeeD Garden produced, that she would change her name before entering Garden, erasing Timber from her past except for an owl tattooed to her hand, and that still to this day, twenty years later, she would still dream of Mister Laguna every night._

* * *

Selphie had outdone herself. The ballroom was breath taking, filled with orange and red lilies, pumpkin pies, winter sangria... Rinoa swore the air even smelled crisp inside, that smell of cold air and changing leaves.

Rinoa had dragged Squall to the floor for their Waltz. True to her word, Mia had ensured that Rinoa caught the eye of every person in the ballroom, and Squall's mouth went dry when he had seen her. He was so enchanted He didn't protest the dance and Rinoa could feel the devotion radiating off of him. She knew... tonight would be the night. A wicked thought crept into her brain, and to any on looker would swear a REALLY creepy smile graced her lips. She felt a flash of emotion from Squall again, apparently she wasn't the only one who knew they were going to finish what they started in Dollet. She leaned her head against his shoulder and grinned like an idiot, suppressing giggling like a lovestruck school girl, instead she whispered, "I love you so much..." against his chest.

Squall chuckled gently and she felt his hot breath on her ear, his hand on her waist rubbing along the curve of her hip, "Can we get out of here?" It was not posed as a question, almost a command. Frankly with the way Rinoa looked, and smelled, he was surprised he had even lasted this long before posing the question. Rinoa shivered and nodded, slowly disengaging herself from his grasp, smiling wickedly up at him,

"Yes, please. Let me just say bye to Selphie," she flashed him another smile, and licked her lips contemplating whether or not to kiss him. She was still mid-thought when he pulled her to him, growling into her ear, "don't take long," pulling back he kissed her gently on the cheek and strode off.

Selphie was darting her eyes around wildly, nervously fiddling with the strawberry floating in her champagne. Mia was next to her, arms folded, eyes smiling, "Selphie, I'm not going to kill you... I'll get my revenge eventually, watching you squirm in anticipation is wayyy too much fun to do it now."

Selphie gulped, and Mia reached over, snatching the strawberry from her hands and took a bite before tossing it back in Selphie's champagne, "besides, Sef, honestly, I'm kind of proud of you, so I might just let it go..."

"We're leaving." Squall's abruptness and manners were not a shock to any of the present company.

Rinoa squeezed Squall's hand reassuringly, "This was really great, thanks Selphie, and thanks for the dress, Mia."

Squall rolled his eyes, "yeah, frankly did not picture someone who wore a neon jumpsuit to own that." A backhanded compliment, but still a compliment. Sort of.

"It was the 90s, Squall, and for the record, you spent your childhood dressed like Charlie Brown. You can't remember growing up at an orphanage, but you remember that... Quistis had a perm too, you know..."

"But did she dye it red too?" Irvine smirked. The smirk quickly disappeared as he realized his mistake. Squall arched an eyebrow and looked over at him. Busted. Mia hadn't had red hair in years. No one would have known about her red hair unless... Thankfully, much to Irvine's delight and Squall's despair, Rinoa and Selphie were busy gossiping and distracted. So much for Squall's quick exit with Rinoa. Other than a curious look, he did not further address Irvine's comment.

Irvine cleared his throat loudly and grabbed Mia's hand, dragging her to the dance floor, hoping that a change of scenery would drop the topic. Mia wasn't surprised when the cowboy led her away from the rest of the group, "I was wondering when you were going to talk to me privately," she said softly.

Irvine was gripping her hand tightly, it was almost uncomfortable, "Alright, I'll just come out and say it...what do you want, Woman? That was your stage name, right? The Woman?"

Mia glanced up at him through long lashes, "I guess an apology would be pretty meaningless at this point." Irvine snorted, still gripping her hand tightly, while his other started to move up her waist, almost purposefully as Mia continued, "Look, despite what you may think, I have no desire for anyone to know about us. That knowledge would do nothing but hurt all three of us."

"Selphie might worship the ground you walk on, Quistis, Xu and you are the three damn musketeers or whatever and every guy in this damn place may think you're Hyne's gift to man, but I'm not falling for it. You forget I know how you operate, darlin. You don't do anything without a catch, so I'll ask you again, what do you want?"

Mia glanced over Irvine's shoulder and caught a glimpse of Selphie talking animately with Rinoa and Squall, Rinoa appearing delighted and Squall appearing seconds from gagging Selphie with one of the giant squashes she was motioning towards, "I've known Selphie since she entered Garden and like you, I actually have kept my memory. I don't want to hurt her. She might find out we crossed paths, but that's all she needs to know."

Irvine leaned in close to Mia and she felt his breath on her ear, "I don't trust you," he said softly as his hand squeezed hers causing her to flinch, his other hand still wandering along her, now traveling down her bare arm to the hem of her glove.

Mia twisted her hand loosening his grip and stepped closer to him, leaning against his body, pressing her lips close to his ear, her voice dropped, "I would think you were crazy if you did," she licked her lips and added, "don't do anything stupid. I'm on Selphie's side, doesn't mean I have to be on yours."

Irvine pulled back from her, his wandering hand had stopped and he looked down at her, "the same goes for you," he pulled back the hem of her glove and pressed his thumb against the thing he was looking for on the inside of her wrist as he met her eyes, "because I know your dirty little secret."

With that Irvine pulled away from her and strode off the dance floor, leaving a stunned Mia behind. She held her wrist in her hand and looked down at the place he had pressed. A vein she ruined years ago, but still a souvenir from her past. She glanced across the room and saw Irvine glaring at her from where he had joined Selphie. Once he realized he had her gaze he lifted something into the air: a silver cigarette case. Mia was almost impressed at his stealthy move, he must have gone through her things when she was passed out last night. She turned on her heel him and began to walk in the opposite direction of the room. Irvine had his insurance, and so did she. Hopefully neither of them would ever have to use it.

Irvine felt victorious as he joined Selphie in her conversation with Rinoa and Squall. He slid an arm around her waist and gave her a quick kiss before scanning the room for Mia waiting to put the nail in the coffin. Once he realized she understood his threat he lifted the silver case into the air. Not only did he have knowledge, he had collateral. Satisfied that the damage was done he turned his attention back to Selphie.

"So then Zell wanted to move the giant leaf over to the st-" Selphie was in the process of painfully reenacting the process of setting up the ballroom in excruciating detail.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Selph, but," Rinoa looked over at Irvine, "where did you get that?"

"Pardon?"

"That case? There's a seal carved on it, right? Where did you get it?"

Irvine rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he presented the case to Rinoa, thankfully he had taken the contents out earlier, "I um, found it," technically that was true... except that he had found it in Mia's stuff. Squall glanced at him quizzically.

Rinoa inspected the cover carefully, "That's what I thought... that's the Caraway crest."

"What?" Irvine's head jerked up as he scanned the room for Mia, finding her currently talking to Zell.

"That crest, this case. It's my Dad's," Rinoa grabbed the case from him and turned it around in her hand, "Ha! Not my Dad's, Angelo bit it and there was a big scratch in the silver, this one isn't damaged. Caraway was so angry... he used to have these custom made and give them as gifts to other military people." she smiled thoughtfully as she reminisced, "Where did you get it?"

"Galbadia" he blurted out the first thing that came to his head as he tried to process the information. It wasn't that he wouldn't tell them the truth, he just had to figure out what it meant first, "Um, excuse me for a sec, Squall, ladies," he tipped his hat and quickly darted towards the exit.

Irvine was pacing in the hallway when a firm hand dropped on his shoulder, "what is going on?"

"Squall..."

Squall was not an idiot. He saw through Irvine the second he saw how he acted around Mia, "I know who that belongs to and I can guess where you got it. Now what is going on?"

Irvine sighed, "Mia... I knew her, before. We, ah, we had a thing."

Squall folded his arms across his chest, "I'm aware."

Irvine stopped pacing and looked over at him, "What? How?"

Squall shrugged, "All SeeD have files." Okay so, that was true, though he had never actually looked through his friends' files, and he seriously doubted whatever had been between Mia and Irvine would even be there. He just needed a way to confirm what he had already surmised. The second he mentioned files out loud, Squall cursed himself for not combing Mia's file more carefully. There had to be something he was missing.

Irvine glared over at Squall, "What the hell, dude?! You didn't feel like telling me or warning me?"

"It's your business, not mine," he sighed. Honestly he felt extremely uncomfortable being caught between his friends. He knew Mia well enough to deduce exactly how it had happened and didn't blame Irvine per-say. Irvine's decision to not tell Selphie was his own, Squall certainly wasn't gonna be the one to do it. They probably had their reasons for keeping mum and it wasn't his place to question that.

"Squall, you know what was in here, right?" he lifted the case in the air again.

"I can guess, Irvine. It's no secret to the higher ups what Mia did, OR does behind closed doors.

"She's unstable! She's a liability... and now she's got a 5 star General's property? I know she worked in Galbadia for years, and she works with the League, so I'm sure they have crossed paths, but come ON, you don't find that weird?"

Squall frowned. Finding out that the case was General Caraway's was unexpected to say the least, especially knowing that the cigarette case was something Mia had owned as long as he could remember. While he agreed with most of what Irvine said, he also knew that Mia was still a good soldier and a loyal friend, in her own twisted way. Drug addiction or not, she was still Mia, and after living the life she had, it was amazing she was as semi-stable as she was. He narrowed his eyes and looked into the ballroom for the person in question. He spotted Mia currently dancing with Zell.

Her black hair. Her green eyes. Her anger. Caraway's cigarette case. Her obsession with Rinoa. "Oh my god..." Squall murmured.

Irvine looked over at him, "What?"

It was so obvious. How could he have not seen it before, "Of course... it all makes sense."

"Um.. care to share?"

"She was his client for ages too, she must have figured it out."

"Squall, you gotta talk me through this, I'm lost."

"Mia, I think... sorry, Irvine, I'm not quite sure, but I think Mia's relationship with Caraway is way deeper than what meets the eye." He nodded to Irvine as he made his exit, determined not to let this ruin his evening, he collected Rinoa and left the ballroom and its revelations behind.

* * *

Squall closed his eyes, inhaling sharply, trying to imprint the unique scent in the air. It was a mix of honey, jasmine, champagne and sweat. It was heavenly. His hands trailed down the ivory skin of his companion, he could see every inch of it from behind his closed eyes. He had scorched them into his memory. _Please, don't let me ever forget this. Even if I forget everything else, don't let me ever forget this moment. _His hands made their way up to her shoulder and through her soft hair.

Rinoa stirred slightly at the contact, sighing in her sleep before nuzzling her face deeper into the crook of his shoulder.

_This is heaven. I must be dead, and this is heaven._

How someone so wonderful had ever come into his life, he would never understand. How he could ever deserve to have the woman in his arms was a mystery. _Thankfully, none of us get what we deserve_. He would fight to his last breath for her. Hell he would fight to his last breath to make sure she never had to fight again.

He had heard plenty about what might happen with Rinoa, but none of it could have prepared him. Sure, Irvine sometimes talked about it nonstop, but whatever this was, was not the same as Irvine's locker room stories. He reached with his free hand to grab his glass flute on the nightstand, taking a small sip and chuckling softly to himself. Squall Leonhart never ever in his wildest dreams could have even imagined this would be in his future. He wondered if before Rinoa, if he had ever really lived. He curled his fingers through Rinoa's hair again and leaned over to inhale that beautiful smell in her hair. How on earth did she make it smell so good?

After his realization at the Fall Festival, he had strode over to Rinoa and forcefully dragged her away from Selphie, mid-sentence. Neither of the women had protested, Selphie just watched them go with understanding amusement. They had made their way to his room and after shutting the door, she lifted up a pilfered bottle of champagne in the hand that wasn't intertwined with his a a coy smile gracing her perfect lips. Her ability to be innocent yet at the same time unbelievably sneaky fascinated him. She drove him completely wild and he had a funny feeling he would never tire of it.

Little minx.

Adrenaline from the battle be damned, nothing could ever EVER top this high. He kissed the messy hair tickling his chest.

"love...mmm..." Rinoa's beautiful voice murmured. That voice that less than an hour ago was praising his name, declaring love and devotion, adoration. HIM. Squall. Something absolutely perfect was singing divinely about him. It was mindblowing.

"Always..." he mumbled softly to her. The promise holding much more than just a promise of forever love.

After finishing off his glass of champagne he still couldn't sleep. Part of it was certainly the excitement of finally finalizing his relationship with Rinoa, but the other part was the events of the night that didn't involve her directly slowly replaying in his mind. Quistis obviously knew the connection between Mia, Rinoa and Caraway. This revelation could really go one of two ways: either Mia desperately wanted to protect Rinoa or she wanted to take vengeance on her to get back at Caraway. He sincerely hoped it was the former, but he was not willing to take the chance. He didn't feel ready to share this information with Rinoa, he figured he would get confirmation then confront Mia directly. They had to go into Balamb in a few days on recon, maybe he could use that to his advantage.

Squall sighed. Unfortunately, they needed Mia, she was the only one who enough connections to help with the current threat to Rinoa. _Crap._ Realizing he wasn't going to get any resolution at the moment, he settled down into the bed and curled up into the heat of the beautiful naked woman next to him. He would worry tomorrow. Tonight... tonight was Rinoa. All Rinoa. He hoped to Hyne that every night for the rest of his life would be the same, kissing her softly again he drifted into sleep, into a deep sleep he hadn't had since Ellone had sent him into the dream world. As long as Rinoa was in his arms, everything would be okay.

* * *

A/N: Okay, this was a lot of filler, but it was needed so I can set up where I want to go in the story... and yes, I am being purposefully cryptic...

Chel and Bebedora, thanks for reading, hope I don't disappoint ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own FF8

Also, had to up the rating to M. The beginning of the chapter has some semi graphic depictions of violence and allusions towards it, so... yeah. M for violence, language and "innuendo"

**Part IV:**

Mia was crouched next to him, "This is the man who was associated with the alias on the donor ledger for Herzog..." she murmured, pulling her hair up and adjusting the pin that held it in place.

Squall looked at her, "are you sure?"

Mia narrowed her eyes, "of course I'm sure. Who do you think you're talking to."

Squall rolled his eyes, "Whatever. So how are we-"

Before the sentence was finished, Mia had pulled on her gloves and quietly broke the lock on the window, opening it and slinking through. "Dammit," Squall murmured, peeking in after her, but opting to stay out of the building, just in case. There was a man, who was alone in the room, watching TV, from the information they gathered, he should be alone for quite some time.

Mia crept behind him soundlessly and within a second, her hair was tumbling from her head and the pin was against the man's neck, "Don't look back, don't even move. Tell me who Brutus is and I won't kill you." Brutus. A code name listed in almost all of the information they had pulled together. Obviously the person was important, but the identification was a complete mystery.

"Brutus...? I...don't," the man squirmed slightly. With his movement, Mia wrapped her arm around his neck, moved the pin swiftly and stabbed it in the side of his chest before putting it to his neck once more. The wound on his side didn't bleed, but he began to gasp for air. "Wha..." he was wheezing, "you... bitch.."

"There is a hole in your lung," Mia said calmly, pressing the pin closer to his airway, "You need a chest tube or it will collapse. Tell me what I want to know or I'll stab the other one and enjoy watching you struggle for air."

The man coughed, blood tinging his sputum, "Are you... seri...serious.. seriously asking me... what you already..know?" he managed out, groaning in pain. This was obviously not the answer Mia liked and she flipped the pin from her hand, aiming it towards the man's left side.

"WAIT!"

She paused, "You have 3 seconds, Three.."

"In Deling!" He wheezed, his coughing becoming more violent.

"Where? Two..."

"Brutus..Deling.. will be there."

"When? One..."

"I don't.. I don't know, please"

"Wrong answer."

She must have assumed he was at least partially telling the truth, because she quickly let go of him, much to his surprise, only to roughly knock him out with the butt of her gun. Mia crouched down, pulling a small medical kit from her satchel and she gently placed a small piece of gauze over the small hole in his side, creating a seal to prevent further damage to the man's lung, "There... should last you until the hospital," she murmured, glancing back at the window and nodding towards the place she knew Squall was watching from in the darkness.

Squall let out a breath he had been holding. She was way too reckless, but at least they had gotten some information. He remembered her being fearless, especially when it became to putting herself in danger, but this was just suicidal. They had no idea what to expect within the walls of the building she had entered. At the very least, she had something: Deling. Whoever Brutus was, they would find him in Deling. They were all planning a trip for Caraway's celebration marking his 30th year as General of Galbadia in a month. Squall supposed it was possible the alleged kidnappers would be counting on Rinoa being there. Deling would be a good place to take her, it did not have the protection Garden did, even with Caraway at the helm. He was about to push in through the window when he heard a crash, opting instead to duck down quickly.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Another voice. _Shit_. The guy was supposed to be alone, then again, he had thought Mia's careless attitude towards the break in was a terrible idea for this exact reason.

"You? YOU? Herzog's little whore?" Squall crept his body up to peer through the window to get a view of the person who had burst into the room, catching Mia. The man had a gun to Mia's head, "You must be pretty good if Herzog gave you any of our names," he pulled the gun back and grabbed Mia, slamming her against the wall. "I've always wondered what all the fuss was about with you. Maybe if you're good I might just let you go."

Mia met him with an icy stare. She was used to men begging her, that certainly was not going to change now, even if her life was at stake.

The man smirked and pushed his body against hers, inhaling deeply near her hair, "What? I'm sure you'll like it, no need to be so quiet," He pulled back roughly and slammed his fist to her face, "But don't scream or I'll put on my brass knuckles next time I do that."

Squall pulled himself through the window quietly and drew his gunblade. All of them faced this in training, learned to tolerate a certain level of pain and violence, and he was sure that female SeeD had a whole other thing to worry about. Whether you were trained for it or not, he couldn't just sit there and watch a comrade get assaulted.

The man's grip on Mia's neck tightened as his other hand began to pull at her clothes, "So, tell me who else knows you're here, sugar."

Mia stared at him, continuing to meet his gaze and refusing to back down meeting him with complete silence. It was not the reaction he was looking for. His grip tightened, and the hand that was undressing her quickly balled into a fist and punched her in the stomach. Mia gasped as the air was drawn out of her but recovered quickly, shutting her mouth and shaking her head before gasping out, "Just... get yourself off...already, _sugar_."

The man opened his mouth again but he never finished his threat as Lionhart pierced through his back, cleaning slicing his spine. Mia collapsed to the ground, gripping her throat, coughing painfully, "th..thank you," she looked up at Squall and seemed genuinely in awe that he would save her life, as if that was the last thing she figured he would do.

Squall briefly pondered if that was the first time in her life she had ever said 'thank you' in a way other than sarcasm or manipulation. "We need to go." Squall glanced at the door and bent down, "Can you move?"

Mia nodded, "Takes more to kill me than that, just a superficial wound...NO!"

A gun fired and Squall felt a searing pain in the side of his abdomen. He looked down to see a small amount of blood oozing from his side, the majority of it thankfully masked by his leather coat. He turned toward the the the sound of the bullet had come from to see Mia pulling her knife from the attackers neck, the same man whose life she had spared moments before.

Mia rushed over to him, holding her own side gingerly, "We need to get you to a medic. Now." She slipped the knife back into its sheath on her thigh before ripping what was left of her shirt and pressing it against Squall's wound.

"Mia.. we can't. Kadawaki will talk to Cid." Squall cursed mentally. This entire thing had gone horrible wrong and on top of two casualties, he would definitely need a surgeon. That was going to be very hard to keep from Garden.

Mia laughed. She laughed like a child; a child covered in blood, her blood mixed with others as she stood by two dead bodies with steam raising off of them as they cooled, "Well then, Leonhart, I guess we'll see how far you trust me and how much I remember from medic classes."

* * *

_Earlier that day..._

Rinoa knew she shouldn't. Squall would KILL her... but it wasn't like she was breaking into anything personal. Or so she told herself.

Squall had been working on his laptop, on the SeeD database... she wasn't even thinking of it, actually was rather engrossed staring at the slight flexion of his shoulders as he typed without a shirt on. She was merely planning on having her way with him, not him passing out afterwards and leaving the laptop open just BEGGING to be peaked at. After he had fallen asleep the events of the Fall Festival and her and Selphie's conversation afterwards drifted into her head. Selphie's suspicion that Irvine was hiding something, her Dad's cigarette case... the boys had assumed Selphie and Rinoa had not heard that conversation, but they were painfully mistaken.

Rinoa glanced back to where Squall was fast asleep on the couch, naked beneath a blanket with a giant Chocobo on it. He was so cute. She kept stealing glances as she typed the name into the database, praying she didn't get caught, conveniently wearing an oversized "SeeD" shirt of his, like it was a disguise of some sort.

As she began to type the name, it autofilled in and data began to fill the screen. A lot of it. Apparently this girl had a large file. Rinoa blinked, convinced she was hallucinating when she saw the login name on the network 'Cid Kramer'. _Squall hacked into the network himself? _ And apparently was just recently looking at this very same file. Very interesting. Maybe SeeD had different levels of access, though she was shocked to discover Squall didn't have the highest.

Rinoa began to scroll through the words that filled the screen.

**Name:** "Mia Vendenberg" birth name unknown B 2084/6/17 in Deling City

**Mother:** Mia Vendenberg, prostitute. B. 2064 D 2089 Cause of death: overdose, suicide. Body found by 5 year old daughter.

**Father: **unknown

**Stat: **69 inches. green eyes, black hair, large tattoo covering back and R arm of a dragon. Tattoo of owl on L hand, Tattoo of old Centran writing on L leg.

**Skills:** specialist in hand to hand combat, ninjutsu, undercover operations, assassin, speaks Centrian, Galbadian and Estharian

**Alias**: Dragon Woman, Woman, Sugar, The Dragon

Rinoa paused. Mia used her mother's name... her mother who she found dead of an overdose. She must have changed her name before she even entered Garden, as they seemed to not have records of her being Penny. She was born in Deling, like Rinoa, but was about 10 years older. _SeeD sure has a habit of picking up orphans. _ Born in Deling but grew up in Timber. A lot like Rinoa, actually. She glanced back at Squall, relieved he was still asleep and looked back at the screen.

Affiliations were listed, the number was huge, many politicians, the head of armies, police forces across the globe. She took a sharp intake of breath as she landed on a few names: Delegate Herzog, Laguna Loire... Squall's dad? There was a small note in the entry, 'thought to currently be in relations with' her lover? Laguna was her lover?

Squall had to know this, he after all, was the one who assigned missions. Unless this was something that was only in Cid's file. Maybe Squall just found out himself. Rinoa frowned.

She thought she was shocked to learn about Laguna until she saw the final name: Fury Caraway. It wasn't that her Dad was listed, she was aware from over-hearing conversations as well as from conversations with Mia herself that she had worked with him at one point. It was the caption attached that got her attention: 'client to Caraway from 2097 to 2101'

_Four years_. She had worked for her father as a SeeD. A SeeD, who her father hated, for FOUR years. Rinoa was a child then. It was shortly after her mother died. She tried to go back into her memory, was the girl there? Four years... what was she doing? On top of that she began the mission when she was still a teenager. It seemed highly unconventional. During the same four year period, other missions were listed as well, so Caraway was certainly not her sole client.

Rinoa frantically began to scroll through the additional data: mission reports, medical reports, incidence reports, her eyes catching alarming details here and there. She didn't know how much time she had before Squall would wake up and her frantic scrolling was leading her to miss important information, she was sure of it.

Successful mission, clean up, 7 casualties. _Successful mission but WHOOPS killed seven people. _Rinoa snorted. _Leave it to Cid to reduce human life to a single sentence._

Report by onlooker, 'girl took a pin out of her hair and stabbed 3 men in the carotid artery in bar, killing them almost instantly and walked away... may have been high'

Failed drug test

Failed drug test

Hospitalization

Incidence Report: Assault on fellow SeeD

Suspension

Successful mission giving vital information on...

Successful assassination of Highest Priest.

Successful mission as personal guard of President of Esthar

Promotion to head of Trabia

It didn't make any sense. She scrolled back in time, trying to understand the pattern when a hospital report stuck out, before the string of incident reports and suspensions

_Hospitalization: Termination of pregnancy. 2098_

Fourteen. Age 14. _When she was working for Caraway._ She felt bile rise up in her throat, eyes with hot tears. She was desperately trying to suppress the urge to vomit when she heard Squall's voice. His words interrupted her marathoning brain just as she threw up in the trash can next to the desk.

"She did not have an affair with Caraway" he said quietly, "I have my suspicions that the whole thing did have some political involvement, but I'm not sure with whom. It was not your Dad though."

Rinoa looked at him from the basin, face pale, eyes wet. He didn't even seen upset that she had been scanning the database behind his back. Instead he looked sad and reached out to stroke her hair back. "I should have told you this, but... it's SeeD and well, it's her privacy. I knew she had worked for Caraway, but I had no idea the extent of it until earlier tonight. I'm sure you-" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, Laguna-style, "I'm sure you noticed this isn't my login. Guess listening to Selphie talk for 3 hours straight finally paid off."

Selphie Timlitt, master hacker/machine expert. _Of course_. She wondered if Selphie had subtly planted the idea in Squall's head in the first place, just like she had in Rinoa's, "But..." Rinoa found her voice, "Laguna. My dad." She finally managed to say.

Squall sighed deeply, "I don't know why she was working for Caraway, presumably something with Delegate Herzog. She's been tied to Herzog for years. Honestly, she doesn't talk about it, and the report is very vague. I mean VAGUE, it makes me look like Charles Dickens in my reports. That's all I know," His hand that had been gently petting her hair, trailed down her shoulder to squeeze her gently, "As for Laguna, well, she must need something from him. Protection would be my best guess. She may have a lot of people in her pocket, but she has a lot of enemies. There are a lot of people who would pay for a lot of money to see her dead. I don't even want to think what Laguna get's out of it, well, because I would just rather not think about that."

Squall had a point. Picturing his father with his co-worker. A co-worker that he knew had been around the block more than once? I mean, Squall may still deny it and not speak of him like that, but Laguna WAS his father.

"Maybe they actually like each other," Rinoa felt stupid after she said it.

Squall snorted and leaned over her, scrolling the mouse down the screen until it came upon sets of pictures. Various pictures of Mia. She hadn't changed that much, though she became more and more thin over the years, her eyes tired. Her hair still black, always long. The most recent one was taken in Esthar: she was wearing a dress, an evening gown, she looked classy, dignified, a shawl covering her shoulders. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant bun, she was unrecognizable, far from the tattooed, messy haired girl, who had a propensity for blackmailing public officials and prescription narcotics. Rinoa only knew her from the green eyes, and the pin tucked into her hair. A hair pin that had killed people in a bar 6 weeks before the picture was taken.

Laguna was in the picture as well, Mia's eyes were glued to him and she clearly didn't know her picture was being taken. Laguna was discussing something with Kiros. They both looked... happy. Rinoa observed the picture carefully, glancing back between the two figures,

Rinoa 'O'ed, "She's in love with him." It was the same look in Mia's eyes that Rinoa gave Squall. She would know that look anywhere. Laguna, per usual, appeared oblivious in the picture.

Squall didn't hear Rinoa's comment as he pulled on a pair of pants, buckling his gunblade holster to his waist, "We'll talk about this later, alright? I've gotta go, I've gotta be in Balamb. I would never leave like this if it wasn't emergent. You know that, right? I'm sorry... I promise, we'll talk tomorrow."

* * *

_Meanwhile_

"I'm just saying, Mia is sitting pretty in Garden and I'm wearing a Visitors pass. a VISITORS Pass, Kitten. Seriously?!"

"Seifer, I am already regretting bringing you here, please do not make it worse. It's bad enough whatever I am going to read on Selphie blog, please behave. And for the love of Hyne do not call me Kitten in public..." Quistis buried her face in her hands.

Seifer pouted and crossed his arms, turning his attention to the other person in the room, "I think your cigarettes are adequately packed," Seifer pointed out as Mia continued to pound the fresh carton onto the wooden coffee table in front of her.

Mia paused, "Right," she opened the pack and extracted a cigarette to place in her mouth, "Sorry, I guess I'm distracted, gotta go to Balamb tonight. So, when Selphie gets here I'll start."

Seifer shrugged and leaned back his chair on two legs, lazily dragging his arm around Quistis, "Suits me. So I guess you got a lead, huh? What happened to that guy you were tracking down?"

"Him? Oh, he's dead," Mia may as well have been talking about what she ate for lunch that day.

"Dead?" Quistis shot up in her seat, causing Seifer's seat to almost tumble over if it wasn't for his quick recovery, "What do you mean 'dead'?"

"What do *I* mean? What do YOU mean? I didn't know the word 'dead' had more than one interpretation." Mia glanced over at her, tossing her hands into the air as if to say 'what gives?', "Besides, I got what I needed. In Balamb, I'm going to follow a lead on the code name, Brutus."

Quistis pinched the bridge of her nose shaking her head, "You know what I meant..."

"Geez, someone's got their panties in a bunch. Why so restless, Mia? No one to sink your teeth into around here?" Seifer jeered. Mia narrowed her eyes as Seifer continued, "I guess the average age is about 30 years junior to what you usually like..."

Mia snapped, lunging across the table towards him, her pin pulled from her hair. The pin was inches from his neck when she stopped herself, body trembling in fear and anger. Quistis had reacted quickly, her whip wrapped around Mia's wrist... just in case. Mia shrugged the whip off her arm and shoved the pin back in her hair, turning her back towards the couple, "Yes... I'm TESTY, so do not piss me off. I literally JUST told you what happened to the last guy that did that. As for WHY, Seifer, get your mind out of the gutter, it's because a certain cowboy took my stash...if you must know."

Seifer and Quistis exchanged a look before Quistis spoke, "Mia..." she was exactly sure how to broach the subject of 'are you mentally stable' with the other woman, it wasn't exactly normal 'elevensies' conversation, "Is that part of the reason you had us all meet?"

Mia sighed, finally lighting her cigarette and inhaling deeply, "Sorry, Seifer," she mumbled, "I'm on a razors edge right now, do you SEE the 3 nicotine patches I'm wearing?" She did not address Quistis' question.

"Is there rum in here? It's not even noon," Seifer sniffed Mia's cup of 'tea' experimentally.

"SHUT UP, SEIFER!" Mia and Quistis yelled in unison, before Mia added quietly, "And for Hyne's sake, it's whiskey, what do you take me for? A co-ed?"

Seifer's life was thankfully saved by Selphie, who bounded through the doorway and quickly took a seat next to Quistis, avoiding Mia's gaze effectively altering the mood of the air.

Mia sighed and flopped onto the couch shifting uncomfortably before reaching underneath the cushion to extract a pair of handcuffs. She raised an eyebrow at Selphie before placing them on the table with a loud thunk, conveniently gathering everyone's attention, "Okay, before I start, and some of you already know parts of what I'm going to say, but... it does not leave this room or the people in this room... I'm looking at you, Selphie."

"Selphie has a big mouth, but she knows when to keep it shut," Quistis offered. It was the truth, while Selphie was the biggest gossip on the planet, she did manage to keep Top Secret missile launch codes without any difficulty. She knew where to draw the line.

"Okay, well, you may have suspected, Sef, and... well other people may have," Mia sighed, "Wow, this is hard."

"Rinoa is her half-sister," Seifer interrupted, "Sorry, Mia, but we do not have all day here."

Mia glared in his direction, "Yes, thank you, now I remember why I invited you here. So yeah, Caraway is my dad. There, I said it." It occurred way less eventfully and dramatically than Mia had anticipated.

Quistis frowned, "Mia, I've known this for a long time and kept your secret, but honestly, why don't you just TELL Rinoa? Wouldn't it save a lot of complication?" Seifer and Selphie eyed Quistis carefully as she mentioned being privy to this knowledge for long before the rest of them.

Mia flicked ash from her cigarette into Seifer's cup of tea, "Yes, I know, but I guess I'm not exactly sure how to say, 'oh, hi, your Dad, the guy you hate? Yeah well he slept with a hooker 10 years before you were born and knocked her up, PS. I'm your sister'. That's not exactly a thrilling family reunion. Then I can follow it by the whole, 'oh yeah, he knew I existed by the way. You think he sucked as a dad to you? Compared to me, he was Dad of the year to you'. Again, not really seeing any warm and fuzzys occurring here."

Selphie slowly turned her eyes towards Mia, finally meeting her gaze, "Your cigarette case. Makes sense. The Caraway crest on the case, its your family crest too... oh god" Selphie paled, "Mia, I... I did something really stupid."

Mia took a long drag from her cigarette before rubbing her eyes forcefully in frustration, "Selphie, it doesn't matter. I have been less than honest with you anyway, and this whole thing is becoming a mess."

Selphie jumped across the coffee table, knocking over a collection of various liquids in the process before gluing herself to Mia in a deathgrip, "Mia, I KNEW, I figured, the whole hair comment at the ball, I know what Irvine was like and I get it... I was just hurt you didn't trust me enough to tell me... but, I did something stupid, I..." So, Selphie and Rinoa HAD heard that comment at the Festival, though neither of them had let on. The girls were not stupid and Selphie, despite appearance, was a world class military specialist. Like any cunning woman, they both had processed the information to be able to use it later. Reacting in emotion would have been a mistake, not only ruining the ball, but also showing their cards. It was actually quite conniving, and to someone like Mia it only spelled bonus points.

Mia blinked in surprise, bringing her arm around and squeezing Selphie gently, "Aw, Sef...but seriously, Quistis had a perm too, I don't know why we keep bringing up my red curly hair."

Before Mia had a chance to continue, Quistis had uncharacteristically latched herself to the girl as well, "Mia..." she didn't need to verbalize it, Mia understood, Quistis was worried, and for good reason.

With the two girls currently glomped onto her, Mia began to try to extract herself, "Ladies, I really don't feel like starting any more rumors about me and we certainly don't need to give Seifer anymore fantasies so.. um..." Mia finally wiggled free of the women's grasps and stood up quickly, "Look, Selphie, I messed up, but if it makes you feel better, Irvine was willing to try and take me on like an idiot because he wanted to protect you, so, all in all, he isn't a total loser. Quisty, look at my arms, no needles, promise, only some pills sometimes to sleep." Mia held up a pinky towards Quistis and winked, "Pinky swear, okay?"

Quistis opened her mouth before Mia's finger pressed her pinky against her lips, "I don't want to talk about any of this anymore. You know whats going on, you know why I'm here, I'm not sure how to tell Rinoa and I don't think I'm ready anyway, I needed us all on the same page, so...That's it. Oh, and Selph, tell Irvine to give me back my stash, I might be making ends meet, but no one wants to rock my psychological boat and I've gotta see this through," With that she left the room abruptly slamming the door behind her, leaving the occupants of the room startled in her wake.

Quistis finally broke the silence, "She talks like this is the end."

Seifer gently placed a hand on Quistis' shoulder, "Because it is. Mia's living on borrowed time. I felt the same way under Ultimecia... there was no choice, I was in too deep. Mia's in too deep, she has screwed over a lot of really powerful people; she's as good as dead, it's just a matter of when."

"Her last mission..." Quistis said softly, "But, given everything. I mean, should we trust her? She obviously is doing worse than I thought and now I - I'm not sure if her connection to Rinoa is good or bad."

Seifer shook his head, "Quistis. That girl saved your life more than once. She's killed for you. Hell, she seduced a prison guard to save MY sorry butt, and let me tell you, whenever she 'knows what someone likes'" Seifer shuddered, "let's just say, I can never look at a Cricket paddle again. But she did that, to save me. She's saved both of you. Selphie, she wrote your transfer letter to Balamb. Have some faith."

Quistis nodded and Selphie sniffled loudly, "Guys.. I did something really stupid... I- I was kind of upset and I, well I kindofmaybe suggested to Rinoa that maybesortof she might want to see if she could look at Mia's file."

Quistis looked up at the other woman, "Her SeeD file?"

Selphie poked her fingers together nervously, "ummmm" she mumbled, digging her toe into the ground, "And... I may have sort of maybe 'hinted' at how to help Squall get into some higher level files to.. um, so Rinoa couldkindofmaybe see them too."

Quistis facepalmed, "Selphie, *I* don't even know what's in there. For all I know, SeeD knows all about Caraway. Well, guess we better prepare for damage control."

* * *

_Much Much Later_

Rinoa heard voices. The distinct low hum of Squall's voice. She couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but she knew there were only two people in the room. She made out a woman's voice, it sounded like a cat purring.

She knew not to be jealous, I mean, so there was a girl in Squall's room. Talking. Really late at night. I mean, Squall would never... right? She swore she never would, but she tried, just a little, to reach out with her mind. She met nothing but a wall. Squall never had a wall around his mind. Granted, she did not know to what extent Squall realized her ability to draw out people's thought's went, but he certainly made no active effort to block her out. Both of the occupants of Squall's rooms were clammed up tight. At least she could somewhat hear their external voices.

"she... find out... Squall, please..."

"...over thinking... love... trust me."

Rinoa did not like what she was hearing and took a deep breath. _Trust him, girl_. She bit her lip and was trying to decide whether or not to break in there and show whatever tramp was in there a piece of her mind (and her magic) or walk away and convince herself to trust Squall and confront him later. She knew Squall loved her. She felt it from his kisses, saw it in his eyes, had heard it in his head. Deep down, Squall had character, it just simply wasn't in him to betray her. Hell, even Caraway would begrudgingly admit that Squall had character. She had convinced herself to trust her knight when she heard a laugh. Low, like a feline. She KNEW that laugh.

"I want..." She couldn't hear whatever the WOMAN wanted. Maybe seducing Squall was some messed up way of fulfilling whatever fantasy of Laguna she had. Rinoa's thoughts were running faster than she could process them.

At the same moment a piece of an image, undoubtedly she was seeing through Squall's eyes: skin, a tiny scrap of black cloth, the woman was bent in front of him and he had a very nice view of her cleavage, the image shut out as quickly as it came.

Rinoa was furious, furious and lost, she didn't know whether to be angry or destroyed. She wanted to cry and run, but confront and scream at the same time.

"Dammit, Mia!" A grunt. His.

She was not prepared for nor was she expecting what lay in store on the other side of the door. Slamming it open, her heart stopped.

* * *

A/N (hides) Come on, do you REALLY think I would make Squall cheat on Rinoa? (laughs evilly) No, seriously though, come on.

Re Mia, I'm sure a lot of you saw it coming, but obviously there is more to come.

Don't kill me! (hides)


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own FF8

PLEASE Read and Review, even if you hate it! Constructive criticism is helpful!

**Part V:**

_"Dear sweet Mia, just think about it," Herzog cupped her cheek in his hands, tracing his thumb alone the bone, "Think of what it would mean."_

_Mia leaned her face into his touch, closing her eyes, imaging it was anyone but the man in front of her as she smiled at him convincingly._

_"You could finally be free, Mia. The power. Get rid of that man at Garden. You will have anything you could ever want and never have to be hurt again."_

_Mia opened her eyes and studied Herzog carefully. Getting rid of Cid was a tempting offer._

_"You'll be the Sorceress. Everyone will worship you, and I will be your knight. Just think about when I found you. A SeeD being thrown into war as a young girl. I took care of you, I saved you."_

_Mia nodded. Herzog had "saved" her alright. He had taken care of her, it was true, she wanted for nothing, but it came with a very steep price. All the power in the world. She would never have to sell herself again, she wouldn't have to run anymore, would never need to rely on favors to stay alive. Then, maybe then she could go back to Laguna. She could protect him and be the Sorceress that Adel should have been. She could finally repay him for helping her long ago. Then maybe, just maybe, he would love her._

_Mia smiled and cupped Herzog's hand, meeting his gaze with fire in her eyes as she licked her lips, "Let's do it."_

* * *

Rinoa was furious, furious and lost, she didn't know whether to be angry or destroyed. She wanted to cry and run, but confront and scream at the same time.

"Dammit, Mia!" A grunt. His.

She was not prepared for nor was she expecting what lay in store on the other side of the door. Slamming it open, her heart stopped

Squall was leaning back on his elbows, his chest bare, as Mia bent over him her head down. Squall's eyes were shut tight and he hissed, biting his lip. They were too absorbed to even hear Rinoa burst in. Mia wasn't much better in terms of clothing, a pair of incredibly inappropriately short booty shorts with SeeD written on one of the butt-cheeks, and what looked like a red bra. For the first time, Rinoa saw most of her tattoo.

Rinoa tried to say something, but her mouth was dry, and her voice seemed gone. How COULD they?! She trusted him. Hell, she trusted Mia! "H...HEY!" she finally managed

Mia jerked up and looked over her shoulder, face guilty. Squall's head jerked up as well and he screamed, "FUCK. Dammit." His face appeared guilty as well.

There was a moment of dead silence, Mia turning her face away from Rinoa refusing to meet her gaze. The moment dragged on and Rinoa swore she could hear the clock in the atrium of Garden ticking.

Mia finally spoke, "Well, bad news is, she knows..." she lifted up her hand, she was wearing gloves, holding something, and her fingers were covered in... blood, "Good news, Rinoa's interruption helped me finally get this stupid thing out."

It was then that Rinoa took in the surrounding. There was a medical tray on the floor, gauze soaked in blood, sutures, some lidocaine. Mia's side was taped in an abdominal pad, and her shoulder wrapped, the unmistakable rusty stain of blood in the center of one of the pads. Rinoa realized that what 'thing' Mia was referring to was a bullet as Mia held it in her hand studying it carefully. That meant that the blood on her hands and the bullet must have been Squall's. Rinoa was able to finally see past Mia's body to a fresh gun shot wound in Squall's side.

Rinoa just stared at the two, Squall was still not speaking, closing his eyes again. Rinoa was angry, and relived and scared all at the same time. It wasn't exactly a normal scene to walk in on, even for their group of friends.

The silence was broken again, interrupted by the sound of a metal clink as the bullet was dropped into a tray. Rinoa narrowed her eyes and slumped down to her knees next to them, "What. The. Hell."

Mia turned her head down and started to pick up a suture kit. Rinoa could see from her view that there were unmistakable finger-print bruises around her throat, and one of her eyes was blood shot. Squall's gun-blade was tossed on the floor, dried blood on the handle. Rinoa looked at Squall, daring him to speak.

Squall sighed, "Rin, I didn't... we didn't."

"Obviously." Rinoa looked away from him, crossing her arms.

Mia snipped the suture loudly and stood up quickly, grabbing her jacket and slumping it over her shoulders. Rinoa noticed she was trying not to move her left arm too much.

"Rinoa, we were trying to... it was just... we didn't want the infirmary to report it to Cid, cause it wasn't an official operation..." Mia didn't know how else to proceed, deciding it was best to be discussed between lovers. She picked up her knife, also covered in dried blood, slipped it into the holster on her thigh, and lifted her bag, "I'm sorry." she finished lamely.

Rinoa glared at the girl, "I'm sure you're sorry, WOMAN." she said pointedly, "I'm sure you didn't mind being half naked with him and..." Rinoa huffed in frustration, "just... just go do that thing you don't think anyone knows that you do, even though we all do." the last words were spit out with more venom than Rinoa had intended.

Mia looked at her, eyes sad. She sighed and her face hardened into something Rinoa had never seen on Mia before. It was like ice. She knew the face, it was the face her friends put on before battle. It was the face of someone wiping their mind clean of emotion and becoming a perfect machine. She was SeeD.

"It was for you, stupid princess." Mia muttered, desperately digging through her bag for a cigarette, "Sorry for keeping my baby sister's hands clean."

"What?" Rinoa's head shot up and met the blank green eyes of the other woman. Caraway's eyes. Of course. Rinoa's head began to ring as she felt Mia's mind assault her with thoughts and information. Mia was Caraway's bastard child, growing up in Timber, finding her Mom dead, living alone, Laguna bringing her to Garden, growing up more in Garden, working for Caraway, finding out Caraway was her father, wanting to protect Rinoa, make sure Rinoa would never have to see what she saw. It was muddled and dark, but the intentions were clear and pure: the most important thing to Mia was to protect Rinoa. Of that, Rinoa had no doubt.

The stream of consciousness abruptly stopped, "But you had figured most of that out," Mia murmured softly, "Caraway hired me to keep an eye on Herzog. Unfortunately Herzog had a... had a taste for young girls. We've been together for a very long time. When I found out that he was going after you, I... that's why I came back."

Rinoa covered her mouth and looked over at Squall, who did not seem nearly as surprised as she was, "The baby."

Mia took a last drag from her cigarette before crushing it to the back of her hand to extinguish it, eliciting a wince from Rinoa and Squall. Mia didn't flinch as it burned her skin, "Yeah. Despite it all, Herzog has taken care of me. Going after my blood though." Mia shook her head, "Rinoa, you have no idea what I've been through for you." With that she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

As the door slammed, Rinoa found her voice, "Okay, Squall, I can't even... what, how co-" her voice was cut off as Squall kissed her roughly. She shoved him away, "what the HELL!"

He pushed himself forward, slamming his lips to hers again, climbing on top of her. Rinoa was furious... FURIOUS, but yet, intrigued.

"Just.. be quiet and listen," he whispered against her lips before covering them with his own again, adding, "for once."

Rinoa nodded. Squall was usually gentle with her, sweet, afraid he would break her. This side of Squall was something that came home from missions. Hungry, full of adrenaline, wild. This side intrigued her, thrilled her, but scared her.

Squall pulled off of her, pulling her to him as he leaned his back against the wall, tugging her into his lap and taking in the scent of her hair. He was quiet and Rinoa wondered if he would speak, but she stayed quiet, obediently. She was about to say something when Squall spoke,

"That's not all of the story, Rinoa..."

"EXCUSE ME."

Squall sighed and tightened his arm around her, "Rinoa, PLEASE, just let me get this out. You know I would never. EVER. Especially not with.. I mean she's slept with half the League!"

Rinoa looked up at him. She knew he wouldn't. She felt it in his heart and knew from the times she had heard his mind.

Squall looked down at her, seemingly reading her thoughts, "Why do you think Garden doesn't dare to kick her out? Cid is terrified, she could probably take down the whole system, her connections and the dirt she has on people is... incredible." He sounded almost impressed and disgusted at the same time, "and I have never seen someone that hates Cid so much... I'm not exactly sure why she hasn't taken Garden down."

Rinoa pursed her lips, while Mia's distain of Cid was a generally known fact amount of the upper echelon at Garden, it was news to her. Mia hated Cid? But why? "Her friends are here. She would never hurt them." Rinoa finally said, and she knew the statement was true. Mia wouldn't hurt her. She felt it in her brain and finally relaxed, knowing whatever Squall was sharing was truth, and that nothing nefarious had taken place.

Squall hmmed, "of course," he mumbled, then clearing his throat, started again, "You know that we've been following the lead on kidnapping you. Well, we know that someone named Brutus is in Deling and is going to be the one to do it. We are trying to get more on this guy."

"Just you guys?" she looked up at Squall again finding it hard to believe that Garden would have no involvement in something that directly involved the Sorceress.

"Quistis and Selphie know. Irvine and Zell know some of it, and..." The last person in the loop Squall himself was non-plussed at being involved, but there was no point in holding back from Rinoa now, "And Seifer. He knows all of it."

"Seifer is back in Garden?!"

"Rinoa, Garden isn't involved. As few people know as possible, that's why we are being so secretive. Mia won't be involved if Cid is and frankly, we need her. She just confirmed a lot of what I had suspected, especially involving Delegate Herzog." he gripped Rinoa's shoulder painfully, "Herzog is planning on killing you and.. giving your powers. To Mia."

"Oh." _What do I even say to that?_ Finding out you have a bastard sister who's pedophile boyfriend wants to kill you, there isn't exactly a Hallmark card on how to respond to that information.

He sighed and closed his eyes, "It's close. Rinoa, we will protect you, okay? You'll be safe. I'm never going to leave your side." Squall grabbed Rinoa's hand and placed it on the side of his face, "Just... look inside."

Her mouth formed a small O as she realized what Squall was giving her permission to do. Pluck the memory directly from his brain. If that wasn't trust, she didn't know what was. Rinoa closed her eyes and lifted her other hand to his face, twisting in his lap to face him. His mind was open and focusing on the events having led up to the place they were now. Rinoa felt like she was being pulled from the bottom of her stomach and thrust into a place where she didn't fit. It felt uncomfortable and she felt like she was intruding on a private moment, or places in this case.

As the feeling of nausea and unease subsided she could SEE the memories. As if she was looking through Squall's eyes. People whispered and moved like ghosts, she realized her heart was pounding... or was that Squall's?

After being assaulted with more information she could process Rinoa found herself feeling tugged back into Squall's room, the same lurching feeling in her gut as she relived conversations, memories, missions that had taken place over the course of the past few weeks. They mixed in with the memories she had seen from Mia moments earlier. Her head aching as things fell into place.

"She has to protect me." Rinoa finally concluded, "Fix her past mistakes by protecting me." _Quistis had called it her penance._

"Just like I have to. But, for me, I'm your knight." He pulled her up again to his lips, "and I love you. Forever." He kissed her again, guiding her to the floor, "anything, for you."

Rinoa closed her eyes, allowing his weight to push on her. Safe. Warm. She felt his urgency and gave in. She loved him. Forgetting the concern of whomever was coming after her, and why a possibly sociopathic girl, correction, sister, was killing people to keep her safe, she let her knight make love to her on the floor, his bloodied gunblade feet away from her feet. She loved him...

* * *

Later that night Squall watched Rinoa sleep in his arms. A habit he had started from the few times they had made love. Usually he was nervous about her sleeping in his room, not wanting to break Garden rules, but honestly, he didn't care anymore. _Fuck Garden_. For a brief second he sympathized with how much Mia disliked it as he suddenly felt extremely claustrophobic within it's walls.

He winced slightly at the pain in his side from the bullet wound. Making love to Rinoa had been almost unbearably painful, but he wouldn't take it back for the world. Any pain was worth having her. _What kind of life is that?_ He knew that as long as Rinoa was close, he would live anywhere and do anything.

For once he was able to sympathize with Laguna. His willingness to take on any job to stay in Winhill with Raine, even though deep down he was someone that was full of adventure. Squall shoved that thought out of his head _Yeah willing to stay for a while, then leave her to die pregnant. So much for commitment_. Deep down he knew that Laguna was not at fault and that somewhere down the line the memo got lost and Laguna truly was clueless as to Squall's birth, but it still happened, and Squall was never truly going to be able to forget it.

Would they ever have a life where they weren't running or there wasn't a threat to the Sorceress? Rinoa deserved far more than this: a huge prison. _I'll give her more._ They could run. Find a place where she wasn't the sorceress and start a new life. A life together. Could he give up being a soldier? _If it means a life with Rinoa, I'll give it all in a heartbeat._ With new resolve he closed his eyes and sunk down into the bed, kissing Rinoa on the forehead _I promise_.

* * *

"I thought we had an understanding."

Mia was leaning her forearms on the balcony overlooking the Sea that Garden was currently drifting along, cigarette dangling daintily in between her fingers, "Sorry, Irvine. I don't do well with blackmail... and you should have known better than to mess with me."

Irvine leaned against the railing facing away from her as he passed her the silver cigarette case, "I a'int happy. Selphie won't even speak to me." So much for sounding threatening.

Mia plucked the case from his hands, "Not my problem. I weighed my hand, made the most sense to just come out with the truth. For what it's worth, I told Selphie to forgive you." She opened the cigarette case checking the contents. It was all there. She plucked out on of the tablets and flipped it in her mouth, chewing before swallowing loudly. Taking drugs in public in the middle of Garden? This girl either was the most brazen person in the universe, completely insane, that hardcore of an addict, or knew something he didn't. All of them spelled trouble.

Irvine narrowed his eyes and tipped his hat, "Still don't trust you by the way. The crap you're taking, your loyalty to that will break any other loyalties you have. I know that much." He pushed himself off the balcony and walked away from her to seek out Selphie.

Selphie's confrontation of Irvine had been less than ideal. His first instinct had been to deny everything emphatically, that is, until he realized Selphie had heard it from Mia herself. The weird part was, Selphie didn't seem to be upset with Mia in the slightest. _It is horribly unfair._ Then again, he had been horribly unfair by lying in the first place. Correction. Lie of OMISSION. Technically a lie, but ONLY on a technicality.

He had begged for Selphie to hear him out, she listened but refused to speak. If Selphie wasn't speaking, that was a really bad sign. Finally, after he had spoken for over an hour, rehashing the whole event, and including some other choice events just incase, Selphie merely said, 'Tigers can't change their stripes.'

_How could she think that?_ Irvine was a new man since Selphie came into his life! Gone were the days of womanizing and desperately seeking a momentary connection to dull the loneliness of being a sniper. For once in his life he didn't want to be alone anymore. Selphie would go on and on about how much Squall had changed because of Rinoa, how poor lonely Squall wasn't so sad anymore. Didn't she see it in him too? He didn't want to spend another day without her. Ever. He wanted to wake up next to her for the rest of his life.

For the rest of his life.

_Holy shit. I want to spend my life with her._ Actually saying it like that made him feel a dry lump in his throat. He knew that this was the girl he was going to marry eventually, have kids with, help tape various videos on the camcorder, _and a few that won't make it on her blog, heh_. No one, NO ONE would ever come close to Selphie. Irvine wasn't willing to go on without her. He would get her to listen. He would fix it. Or he would die trying.

Maybe there was some light at the end of this awful tunnel whose awfulness could only be drowned out with top shelf whiskey. They say you only can truly appreciate something after you've lost it, maybe there was some truth in that. He would fix it and never lose her again.

* * *

"To je storila," Mia murmured into her phone, nodding as she listened to the other end of the line.

Mia continued, "Jaz sem notri. Sorceress mi zaupa. To je enostavno. Vidimo se v Deling." she flipped the phone shut and turned around, hoping the figure behind her had not heard any of her conversation, "Zell!"

Zell looked her up and down, "What the hell happened to you? You look terrible," It was true. She had bruising around her neck, a huge black eye and the near-asphyxiation had caused the capillaries in her eyes to burst, the pearly white of her iris now red.

Mia sighed and put a pair of sunglasses on, "Botched mission. Not worth talking about. We did manage to get some information though."

Zell nodded before adding casually, "I knew you spoke Galbadian, but I didn't know you knew the Slove dialect."

Mia smirked, "I grew up in Timber. Back then a lot of people spoke that dialect. I'm impressed you recognize it."

Zell watched her eyes carefully, "Who are you going to meet in Deling?" He wasn't an idiot. While he didn't speak the particular language he had heard, he knew things that were close and was able to pick out some choice words in her conversation.

Mia bent her head down to light a cigarette, not meeting his eyes, "Brutus. I'm going to meet Brutus."

* * *

A/N: Short chapter, I know, I didn't want to start the part in Deling in this chapter. :) Oh, and Mia is speaking Slovenian, btw.

PLEASE Read and Review, even if you hate it! Constructive criticism is helpful!

(Wow, my authors notes sections are boring)


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own FF8, Also some quotes from Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet in here. Don't own them either.

A/N: A lot of information is going to be given in this chapter and it's going to feel like it happened fast and that a bunch was missed. don't worry, there is a reason it's going that way, a lot will be revealed in flashbacks later...

**Part VI**

The weeks leading up to Caraway's celebration went by faster than anyone expected. Quistis sighed, drumming her fingers onto her desk. They had not come any closer to identifying the threat to Rinoa. While they knew Delegate Herzog was involved, they did not know who his hired goons were. At least they had Mia and Seifer planted on the inside.

They knew that someone named Brutus was going to be involved in the actual kidnapping process, but in terms of identifying him, they were no closer than they were 3 weeks ago. They also knew that Herzog planned on taking Rinoa to a winter cabin he owned near the mountains of Trabia and executing her there with Mia close by, ensuring the transfer of her powers to the other woman. With Mia as Sorceress, he could take control of the League and eventually the world.

Or so Herzog thought. Keeping Herzog under the belief that Mia was on his side was critical. Even if they failed to prevent the kidnapping, at least they had someone on the inside who could get Rinoa out. Quistis sincerely hoped it didn't come to that.

To maintain trust with Herzog, Mia had left the Garden shortly after the unfortunate mission in Balamb. There was a sigh of relief with her absence that was generally felt among the walls, but it sure made life more dull. Quistis hadn't heard a peep from her and she wasn't surprised... that's where Seifer came in anyway.

Mia had brought Seifer with her back to Deling advertising him as an independent mercenary with a taste for blood that could be a useful ally. Most of that was true, anyway. Apparently it had gone over well, because Quistis had seen newspaper clippings with photos of Herzog giving speeches and she would notice Seifer in the mass of people behind him.

Per usual, Mia had managed to cause a huge tidal wave in Garden and then bailed before the clean up. Some of her effect was good and some was bad. She tended to be pretty polarizing in general.

Selphie had not spoken to Irvine in weeks despite his desperate pleas. Irvine had done just about everything, even bought her a rare Trabian puppy, he spent an hour every day just waiting by her door, hoping she would let him in. Selphie had been brooding and quiet and very un-Selphie like. Part of it was because of Irvine, but it was clear that Selphie was deeply concerned about Mia. Mia was like a sister to Selphie and realizing the downward spiral she was on in terms of her addiction must have been difficult to watch. She figured that the entire situation was making her unreasonably stubborn with Irvine and unable to even process information.

With Selphie in a sour mood it cast a dark cloud over the entirety of Garden, bringing every one down with her. It was worse than the week when Rinoa had visited Caraway a few months ago, refusing to let Squall come with her and them having a huge fight as she left, it had resulted in Squall's temper being taken out on the rest of them at Garden. There was even an entire day where no one was aloud to speak, at ALL or risk suspension. That week was NOTHING compared to dark-cloud Selphie.

Zell on the other hand had done well. He had a new found determination in focusing on his studies, and had already mastered Galbadian in the course of 3 weeks. He decided he needed to become a linguistics expert in addition to his fighting. The guy was a genius. Who knew?

Rinoa had been sad to see Mia leave, but it was bittersweet. Finding out she had a sister had gone better than any of them had expected. She was eager to get to know the girl and bond with her. Rinoa and Mia had parted on good terms. Rinoa, however, was burdened with the knowledge of her father's behavior. It's not like Rinoa was the biggest fan of Caraway to begin with, but it had caused an already strained relationship to become unfixable. It hurt Rinoa, whether she showed it or not.

Squall was... Squall. Who knew what he was thinking. One thing she did notice is that he seemed to have a bit more spring in his step recently, whether it was a result of his new closeness to Rinoa or the fact that he didn't have to deal with Mia anymore, she wasn't sure. It was probably a bit of both. It was blatantly obvious that the two of them were completely enamored with each other and clearly something in Rinoa and Squall's relationship had changed. She couldn't quite place her finger on it. Whenever they looked at each other it was like they were exchanging a brilliant secret that no one else was in on.

Quistis herself was worried. She knew that Mia's mind was fragile and basically being held up by prescriptions, alcohol, and duct tape. It was quite possible that it had already snapped and she was just good at hiding it. _Your body may live past 25, but your mind won't..._ It wasn't just about the mission. Even if Mia had lost her mind, it didn't erase the machine inside her. When push came to shove, the machine would get turned on and she would be SeeD, and a SeeD won't fail. In that aspect, Quistis wasn't worried.

On a personal level, it was painful, not only because she watched someone she loved and respected descent to madness, but also because it was a reminder to all of them the side effects of their job. It also ran a little deeper, Mia suddenly had nothing to lose. _A mercenary with nothing left to lose is the best kind..._ The most dangerous. The most deadly. When people were put in that position their behavior became less predictable. THAT made Quistis nervous.

Quistis sighed again, "Zell, can you please stop. That's really distracting." Zell had been punching into the air and pacing the office in circles as the group sat, trying to plan out their next move.

"Can YOU stop, Quisty?" Selphie looked over at her, arms folded. Grumpy Selphie was unbearable.

"Huh?" Quistis looked down at her hand, she hadn't realized that she had been drumming her fingers on the desk the whole time she was lost in her head, "Sorry..." she pulled her glasses off and chewed on the frame thoughtfully, "We need to decide if it's better to try to find out more about the attack, or just focus our attention on defense."

Irvine sighed, flipping the lighter in his hand on and off, "I think it's best to just focus on defense, right? Chances are, we're probably not gonna be gettin much more info at this point."

Selphie glared over in his direction, "I disagree. I think we should focus on recon, right, Squall?"

"Come on darlin' you're just saying that to disagree with me."

"No. I'm saying that because you're wrong!"

Quistis pinched her nose. This had been the overarching theme of any attempt at a group meeting. For the moment, Selphie could not be in the same room as Irvine and it was taking it's toll on everyone. The two either need to make up or get over it. But none of them could go on like this much longer.

They continued to squabble back and forth and Quistis could sense the ire in Squall growing by the second before he finally stood up, tossing his notebook down on the ground loudly, "That's ENOUGH."

The occupants of the room quieted, all eyes focused on him. Selphie's lip was trembling.

"Selphie, Irvine. You guys need to either make up and figure things out or I can't take either of you on the mission. It's too much of a liability." Squall looked at Irvine pointedly.

"But, Squall..." Selphie started.

Squall did not allow her to continue, "That's an order. In Deling, Rinoa will stay with me the whole time. We will stay at Caraways, there should be a certain level of protection there. Zell, you will stay at Caraway's too and keep an eye on the people working in the house. Quistis, you'll be in charge of setting up a perimeter directly around the mansion and protecting that area, you'll take Xu with you. Irvine, Selphie, you will be in charge of checking out the city and identifying threats an liabilities and eliminating them."

"For the actual celebration, Zell, Quistis and Selphie will be in charge of the building. Irvine, you and me will be inside with Rinoa. I'll stay with Rinoa and you, Irvine, keep an eye on Herzog. This all depends on all of us being able to work like we always used to. Irvine, Selphie, I'm talking to you. Get over whatever it is, there's too much at stake to bicker."

All of the SeeD stood up and saluted him. When Squall went into soldier mode he was a natural leader, it was impossible not to fall into step with him. Rinoa nodded in consent as she watched the scene unfold. After his speech, Squall walked briskly out of the room, grabbing Rinoa's hand and pulling her to a stand as he tugged her behind him, "Come on, Rin, we need to get ready."

As Squall dragged her out, she turned back to the rest of the group who was watching them with jaws dropped. She shrugged and mouthed 'I'm sorry' before the door shut behind her. It's not that the rest of them weren't used to Squall barking orders, it was that he clearly was nervous. He was good at hiding it, but the rest of them knew him too well to not see it. He performed well under pressure, but it was obvious he was worried about the outcome of this mission and worried about Rinoa. There were too many things outside of his control, the biggest one being Mia. An anxious Squall was a bossy and abrupt Squall. It was the Squall that they had known before Rinoa, and it was not pleasant to say the least.

* * *

Squall tugged Rinoa down the hallway, gripping her hand almost painfully. She almost had to trot to keep up with his rapid pace, "Squall, stop. Slow down."

He seemed to not have heard her, so she buried her feet into the ground, grabbing his arm with both of her hands, trying to stop him. The change of pressure on his arm caused him to pause and turn around. His intense gaze softened as he looked back at her, "I'm sorry, Rin, I'm really distracted." Squall pulled her towards him gently and wrapped his arms around her, "That's no excuse though. I... I can't let anything happen to you. I WON'T let anything happen to you."

Rinoa nodded into his chest, curling her arms around his trim waist, "I'm not worried as long as you're by my side, Squall. When this is over, we can start out fresh, just like we talked about."

Squall's mouth turned into the closest thing to a smile that had graced his face since they had agreed on their plan two weeks before. They would steal away from Deling after Caraway's celebration. Squall already had documents giving them false identities. A husband and wife from Winhill that were relocating to Fisherman's Horizon.

A few weeks later a press release would be issued that Esthar had 'subdued' the Sorceress and had managed to freeze her, and in the process her knight had been killed. While it naturally wasn't the most ideal plan, it was the only way to live in peace. As long as Rinoa was a Sorceress, they would always be sleeping with one eye open. Rinoa deserved a life and Squall wanted to give it to her. Squall was perfectly content working as a fisherman for the rest of his life as long as it meant waking up to her every day.

It meant probably never being able to see their friends again, which was a hard pill to swallow. They had been surprisingly supportive. Of course they wanted to see Squall and Rinoa together and happy, and they all knew Rinoa's free spirit was slowly being crushed by the weight of being a Sorceress and being semi-trapped in Garden.

Quistis, Irvine and Zell would concoct a story that the Sorceress and Knight had gone rouge, the brave remaining SeeD would have a battle to the death, tragically having to kill their own Commander and their dear friend Rinoa, both of which had lost their minds. Then President Laguna would freeze the Sorceress in the memorial. Doing it himself to make sure that it was done correctly.

As Laguna said, it was the least he could do for Squall. Laguna was eager at the change to give him a the possibility at a normal life with the love of his life. Laguna was willing to help even if it meant he would never see Squall again. Squall was shocked at how agreeable Laguna had been and he even felt a pang of guilt at knowing they would never really be able to have a relationship once Rinoa and him were "dead" so to speak. The whole thing was bittersweet, but the people who mattered would know the truth, and Squall and Rinoa would be together. In the end, it was good enough.

Rinoa had been very insistent on telling Mia the plan to disappear as well. They had not told her yet as they hadn't seen her in weeks. Mia was someone Squall wasn't so keen on involving, but Rinoa swore to him that it was safe, having seen into the girls mind. She had just found her sister, Rinoa did not want Mia to think she had failed Rinoa. Thinking that Rinoa had been frozen in Esthar would have killed what was left of Mia's mind. That much was true at least.

Interestingly enough, Mia had the need to disappear herself anyway. There were enough people who wanted her dead, and once she no longer had Herzog's protection she was pretty much a walking target. She would understand the need to disappear, and she would keep their secret. Squall was more worried about Mia not letting them go through with it.

They had briefly entertained the idea of having a very small wedding ceremony with their friends, taking place before Caraway's celebration and before the kidnapping was supposed to take place. Getting married before they disappeared so that their friends could be present. He liked the idea and hoped they would have the opportunity. He wanted to marry her as Squall Leonhart and her, Rinoa Heartilly, even if it was for a night. She could be Rinoa Leonhart, before both of them became Lev and Hime Fields. Rinoa had said it didn't matter to her as long as they were together, but he knew that saying those vows in front of their friends would mean a lot to her.

What was it she had said? _A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet_. Shakespeare or something. When she mentioned Shakespeare she had also mentioned that Brutus was a character in Julius Caesar. Brutus being the code name of the man who was supposed to kidnap her.

Rinoa told him that Brutus betrayed Caesar in order to save Rome. He is the great patriot, she said. _As fire drives out fire, so pity, pity. _ Brutus had to drive out Caesar with force for the sake of stabilization of Rome. If code names held any meaning, it would stand to chance that someone close would betray them. Someone who thought that getting rid of the Sorceress would be better for the world. Someone who was close and liked Rinoa, but saw saw her demise as 'for the greater good'.

With those criteria, pretty much anyone in Garden except for a select few would be suspect. Cid was precariously close to the top of that list. Cid was aching to get rid of the Sorceress, he wasn't quite as eager when the Sorceress was his wife, but now that Edea was no longer a target he seemed hell bent on keeping Garden towards its 'Real Mission'. The other person high on the suspect list would be Seifer, though Quistis had sworn to her life as to his loyalty. Squall was surprised when Rinoa had supported Quistis' faith and Seifer's allegiance. Despite what they said though, he was keeping his eyes peeled.

The bottom line was, in order for any of this to work, they had to get through the next week in Deling. Get through Herzog's kidnapping attempt, get through Caraway's celebration. Then, they could disappear. Until that time, Squall was on edge, to say the least. Even after, he doubted that it would be a quick transition to no longer constantly looking over his shoulder.

Determined to make the last of their time with their friends not marked by threats, secrets and good-byes, he had inlisted Selphie's help in planning a small wedding. He would suprise Rinoa with it before Caraway's celebration. Laguna was bringing him Raine's wedding ring. Planning the small affair had been the only thing keeping Selphie from not slumping completely into depression, which was an added bonus. Rinoa and Squall's future was hardly the thing that little girls dream of, but he would do everything in his power to continue to protect Rinoa, keep those beautiful ivory hands of her clean, and not make her have to feel the venom of those who feared her powers. While that may not be what Rinoa dreamed of when she was little, that devotion and adoration was worth so much more.

Squall pulled Rinoa away from him so he could kiss her forehead softly, "We'll be okay." For the first time in weeks, he believed it.

* * *

Zell closed the door after Squall and Rinoa, turning the lock, causing it to set in with a loud clunk. The noise caused both Irvine and Selphie to jump from their seats, both darting towards the exit.

"Sit down," Quistis' voice had gone into Instructor mode, and it was scary. Selphie often mused that she would have made a good Catholic School Nun. Irvine and Selphie began to both sit back down obediently, but Quistis' hand on Selphie's arm prevented her from sinking into her chair, "No, sit down, TOGETHER."

Selphie hmphed and dragged her feet to the couch where Irvine was sitting, plopping herself down as far away from him as possible, crossing her legs away from him and dramatically placing her chin in her hand, shaking her leg up and down impatiently.

Zell cracked his knuckles, "May as well get comfy, guys, we aren't leaving until this thing is settled."

Quistis pulled a chair in front of the couch to face them, pulling a legal pad out and adjusting her glasses on her nose, "I really don't want to play therapist with you guys, but you have left Zell and me with no choice. This has gotten absurd and this is an intervention."

Irvine raised an eyebrow but remained quiet, eagerly anticipating Selphie's reaction. Selphie crossed her arms and turned her head away from Quistis, "Nothing to intervene on, Quisty."

Zell marched over to Selphie, lifting her up as she remained rigid in her position, and turning her body to face Quistis. Quistis sighed, "Selphie, we know what happened, but Irvine and you clearly love each other and I don't see that anything was permanantly damaged. The man has suffered enough."

"Thank you, Quisty!" Irvine smiled at the blonde woman.

"I'm not finished." Quistis held up a finger towards Irvine, "Selphie, Irvine made a mistake in not telling the truth, but you forgave Mia and you should forgive him. As for you, Irvine," she turned her body in the chair to face him, folding her hands in her lap, "Irvine, you took an easy way out and lied. There is no other word for what you did. Omitting the truth is the same as a lie. Worse yet, you tried to blackmail your way out of it. Selphie has every right to be furious with you..."

"Thank you!" Selphie managed a small smile towards Quistis.

"I'm not finished..." Quistis frowned in her direction, "That being said - I do believe that you are genuinely remorseful for what happened and will not repeat your mistake again. While your intentions weren't completely altruistic, you did truly not want to see Selphie hurt."

Zell sat on the arm of the couch near Selphie, placing a hand on her back reassuringly, "Guys, life is too short. We don't have much time left with Rinny and Squall and... we don't know how much time any of us have, or something... right?"

Irvine nodded and dared to scoot on the couch closer to Selphie. At least this time she didn't move away, though she didn't turn to face him either, "Selph, Quisty is right. I am sorry, honestly, it was stupid and I didn't want to see you hurt. I'm a different man, Selphie. I don't want to go at it, without ya. And even if you don't forgive me now, or say you won't give me another chance, I'll wait forever... just to show you I changed, I'll wait as long as it takes."

Selphie turned towards Irvine, her eyes watery, "I...I KNOW!" She blurted out, launching herself in his arms, "I was... sometimes its..(hic) and..." she was reduced to a blubbering mess and her explanation was muffled into Irvine's now soaking shirt.

Quistis opened her mouth to speak, when Zell interrupted her, "Quisty, if I may. Selphie, I think the reason you were upset with Irvine and not Mia is 'cause you felt like Mia wasn't telling you the truth to protect YOU not for her, whereas Irvine's intentions were about protecting HIM. But... it's like, Irvine was thinkin' the same as Mia. He loves you, doesn't want you hurt and didn't wanna lose you... so, yeah." Mia also tended to get a carte blanche with most of their friends because while she tended to be incredibly destructive, it was never her intention, that and she was an extremely scary enemy.

Irvine looked up from the sobbing Selphie towards Zell, "When did you grow brains, dude?"

Zell shrugged and Quistis cleared her throat, "I understand what Zell is saying. All of it happened in the past, right? So, are we settled here?"

Selphie nodded into Irvine's shirt, drawing in breath raggedly, "Th-Thanks, Quisty... Zell." She wiped her fingers under her eyes, "We're okay." She said, looking up at Irvine, :Sorry for being..."

Irvine hushed her kindly, "Come now, darlin', no apologies. It's me who needs to apologize. Let's just focus on you and me, and doing a good job in Deling protectin' Rinoa, hm?"

Selphie shot up suddenly, her head hitting Irvine in the chin. Irvine moaned and rubbed his jaw painfully as Selphie jumped to her feet, "I FORGOT! It's PERFECT!" She giggled like a little girl presented with a puppy.

"She sure recovers quickly..." Zell mumbled.

"THE WEDDING!" Selphie jabbed her hand in the air triumphantly, "You guys can help me plan the wedding now! BOOYAKA!"

Irvine, still rubbing his jaw, suddenly started to feel extremely hot and instinctively began to loosen his shirt collar nervously, "Um.. I love ya, Selph, but we just reconciled..." It wasn't that he didn't want to marry Selphie EVENTUALLY, but they weren't even 20 yet.

Selphie shook her head and began to bounce up and down in place, Irvine considering changing his mind about marriage as he watched her bouncing chest, "NO, Silly. Squall and Rinny! It will be my greatest accomplishment yet!"

Quistis cocked her head to the side, "You mean before they..." While all of the group knew about Squall and Rinoa's plans to become Hime and Lev Fields, they hadn't really talked about it together. They had all agreed to help them, and even reluctantly agreed to make up a story about having to battle them, but it was too painful to discuss. While they had agreed to help, it didn't mean they were thrilled about the idea, and all of them secretly hoped Squall and Rinoa would change their minds. But the only way that would happen is if the world no longer feared Rinoa, and it didn't seem like that would happen anytime soon.

Selphie nodded and hushed her voice motioning for everyone to come closer, "So.. here's the plan..."

* * *

Seifer found Mia gazing out the window of the Deling hotel, lost in thought, "Be prepared to be amazed." He smirked, pulling out the crystal glass from the bar in the room and pouring himself a glass of scotch, "Geez, Mia, you live it up with Herzog, I've never stayed in a hotel room this nice."

Mia mentally rolled her eyes as she turned her gaze towards him, "I guess. I'm sure if you were a quarter as good in bed as I am he might get you a studio."

"That's disgusting." Seifer dipped a glass in front of her, rattling the ice to get her attention, "But seriously, is this how it always is? I mean sure, he's old, but why not quit SeeD and just live it up, he doesn't seem to bug you that much."

Mia took the glass from him and took a grateful sip, "I guess. He lost more and more interest in me as I've gotten older. Doubt he would keep me around. Besides, the whole wanting to kill my family and take over the world thing is kind of a bummer."

Seifer shrugged, "Potatoes. PoTAToes."

Mia rolled her eyes, "So... I'm supposed to be amazed by you or something?"

Seifer leaned back on the plush bed, hooking his arm behind his head, while he rolled the scotch in his glass, "Herzog loves me. I'm totally in. He wants me to wait for Brutus after the ball and help get Rin to the Ski Lodge."

Mia finished off her glass, eliciting a look from Seifer. She stood up and refilled her glass, "Yeah, I know. He told me."

"So, come on, Instructor, be impressed, and uh, refill me, huh?" Seifer said reaching out his glass towards her.

Mia brought the decanter over, staring into his eyes as she poured, "He also told me to kill you once we were done." She winked.

Seifer flopped back into the pillows, scowling, "Well shit. That's a downer."

Mia smiled. She was happy D-Day was coming soon. Being stuck with Herzog and pretending to be his adoring fan was exhausting, and putting up with Seifer didn't help. While they got along fine, and actually had quite a bit in common, Seifer was very good at rubbing her sore spots. As he was with many people. She was eager for the entire thing to be over so she could go to Laguna, hopefully being welcome with open arms. Or die trying. If there was one person who could protect her other than Herzog, it was Laguna. If she became the Sorceress, she wouldn't need protection anyway, she could take care of Laguna, like he did for her years ago.

Mia had a sneaky suspicion that Herzog was only keeping her around to become the Sorceress anyway. Herzog grossly overestimated her loyalty to him. While she may have had Stockholm Syndrome towards him for ages and HAD been fiercely loyal, she had been snapped out of her trance. After she had gotten pregnant as a teenager with his baby, he had convinced her that Garden had forced her to get rid of it, she truly believed for a long time that Herzog loved her and was saving her... even though he would have her do missions that involved other men, including her interaction with Irvine years ago. At the time she didn't question the fact that he was almost 30 years older than her... all she knew was that she had been handed over by Caraway and she doubted he was naive towards the kind of guy Herzog was. For that, Caraway would pay.

"I wouldn't worry, Seifer, if you're nice I might let you live," she winked at him again, "We'll be fine, kay? Even if we somehow fail, which we won't, there is no way Squall will let her down." She tugged at the covers underneath him, "Now, can you leave? I want to go to bed."

Seifer pouted, "Come on... you're room is so much better than mine. Share with your favorite student?"

Mia attempted to push him off of the bed, "Unless you suddenly know what Herzog likes, get out of here... besides I really don't feel like explaining to Quistis that you were too much of a baby to sleep in a room with 3 other dudes because you wanted the delux suite."

"Meanie..." Seifer pulled himself off the bed, "I'm taking this..." He grabbed the decanter of scotch before heading towards the door, "Hope you're right 'bout everything Mia."

"Have I ever been wrong?"

Seifer didn't respond as he left the room, shutting the double doors behind him. Seifer had watched Mia slowly disappearing before his eyes. She spent most of her days in the room, drunk, high or both. The fire that was usually behind her eyes was dim and Seifer wasn't sure how much long she would last before she her mind was gone. Squall and Rinoa would be arriving the next day. They had a solid plan, but he had a horrible sense of dread as to the things that were to come. He had also tasted power again, and he hated to admit it to himself, but it tasted delicious.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this chapter sucked. Looking back I realize there is like barely any dialogue. But, had to set stuff up...

R&R pleassseee, let me know if this stinks if you have to :-P

I'm having the opposite of writers block. I'm currently working on another goofy story that you should be seeing soon. I also have another idea for a Squinoa fic if anyone is interested in co-authoring (hint hint)

Bebe: Thanks for the support, ;) and not TPing my house :-P


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own FF8

**Part VII**

"Rinny... can't you wait?"

Rinoa shook her said, looking over at Selphie with sad eyes, "Selph... if we don't do this now, I don't think we ever will. We will keep coming up with reasons to delay," Rinoa sighed, "Also, I... I'm not sure about the Headmaster." Rinoa did not wish to rehash some of the trickles of thoughts she had gathered from Cid's mind.

"Cid?" Quistis turned her head away from the train window to look at her two friends, "What happened?"

"Well, before Mia left, we spent a night talking, for hours... you know, just in case. In addition to learning a lot about her, she warned me about Cid. Anyway, I..." Rinoa suddenly found her lap extremely interesting, not wanting to admit out loud that she had "accidentally peaked" into the Headmaster's mind.

Thankfully, Selphie saved her from having to say more, "What did you see, Rinny?" She hopped off the bench she was on opposite Rinoa to kneel in front of her, whispering as softly as Selphie was capable. A Selphie whisper was a normal toned voice in anyone else.

Quistis scooted on the bench closer to them as well, grabbing Rinoa's hand and giving it a supportive squeeze, "Mia told me the same thing, and... I found some things as well."

Both Selphie and Rinoa looked over at Quistis with mouths agape. Quistis Trepe was about as zealous as Squall when it came to protocol and rules. Knowing she had spied on Cid was a shock. Then again, if Mia told her to, Quistis would probably jump from the moving train they were currently on. While Quistis questioned Mia's mental health, she did not question her ability to do her job, as strange as that may seem. Quistis gave the other girls a small smile and nodded at Rinoa, indicating for her to share first.

Rinoa squeezed Quistis' hand in return before she spoke, leaning her head down and lowering her voice, "He clearly knows how to block me out but... I was able to pick up on some emotions and images." The overall feeling radiating off Cid towards Rinoa was one of semi-hostility. While he didn't out right hate Rinoa herself, actually he quite LIKED the girl, he did NOT like what she did to his best SeeD and he certainly did not like that she was a Sorceress. In short, Cid didn't want her dead, but he certainly didn't want her in Garden or near Squall. Sorceress or not, Cid was not a fan of the distraction she caused for his precious Commander.

Of course this was completely hypocritical. Cid's wife was a Sorceress. Garden's mission in the end, was to destroy the Sorceress, and eventually Cid had been willing to go against Edea. It was much easier to go through with Garden's "True Mission", when the threat was no longer his wife, and merely the Commander's distracting girlfriend. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Cid just had to be tactful, as not to alienate Squall.

After she had explained this to her companions, Quistis sighed, "I guessed as much. I convinced Xu to leave me alone in his office. That was she could plausibly deny knowing anything." Xu wouldn't be able to outright defy Garden, but she could take a long lunch break and leave Cid's office unlocked. Like Quistis, Xu was loyal to Squall and Mia first, and Garden second, "Anyway... he's been having meetings in Esthar."

Selphie's eyes widened, "Not Sir Laguna!"

Quistis shook her head, "Dr. Odine." Quistis herself had been rather shocked upon finding this information in her quick scan of Cid's records, "It gets worse, he's also been sending Odine money."

Selphie gasped, "You think..." She jumped up from her position kneeling in front of them to sit next to Rinoa, hooking her arm around hers, "Don't accept any jewelry gifts from Cid, kay, Rinny?"

This was exactly why she and Squall had to get away. Even if there wasn't Herzog wanting her powers, there was Odine, or Cid, or some other power-thirsty maniac. Or a White Seed. Or an angry citizen who lost a family member in the Lunar Cry. She simply would never be left alone, she would always live in fear, unless she used her powers and proved them all right. _Then THEY will live in fear._ She shuddered, immediately regretting that thought. The longer she was a Sorceress, the more she began to understand why so many of them became violent or crazy.

It was like Hansel and Gretel. This lady wanted to build her house of candy and these dumb kids kept coming and eating it. They won't leave her alone. Of COURSE she wanted to get rid of them. Of course Ultimecia wanted to get rid of the SeeD which were constantly trying to kill her. Who knows, its possible the SeeD attacked Ultimecia unprovoked. They always just ASSUMED she had started the war.

The sound of the train car door opening snapped Rinoa out of her morbid thoughts. Irvine stepped in, tipping his hat and grinning at finding the three girls squished into one side of the car on a seat that was barely meant to fit two people. His face betrayed the stream of wicked thoughts running through his head as he plopped down across from them, draping his gun across his knees. The death glare from Quistis quickly wiped the smirk off his face.

Irvine cleared his throat, "Rin, I tried with Squall and its no use, so I best try with you." Irvine had tried to talk some sense into Squall about disappearing. Irvine actually agreed (which shocked Squall) at the two of them getting married. Rinoa and Squall being married meant that they could live in the same place without raising eyebrows. If they were in the same place, Squall could always keep an eye on her, easing some of his concern. Quite frankly, they all knew it would happen sooner or later anyway, and Irvine suspected that in their hearts, Rinoa and Squall had made that life commitment a long time ago anyway.

What Irvine, and the rest of the gang, did not agree upon, was the idea of them leaving. Okay, so part of it was selfish, quite frankly, he didn't want to lose good friends, and he didn't want to see Selphie lose one of her best friends. The other part was the naive belief that maybe if they just waited a bit longer things might change. He also questioned if it was safer in the world pretending to be anonymous versus being a Sorceress and Knight inside Garden. The biggest reason was that it would hurt. Not only because they were losing Squall and Rinoa, but because it felt like in the end they had failed. Time Compression, Ultimecia, getting through all of it just to lose Rinoa anyway.

Rinoa suspected what Irvine was going to say, as she had already had the conversation with Quistis and Selphie earlier in the train, but she waited for him to continue.

"Rin, darlin', can't you guys wait a bit? Make sure you won't regret it. Not bein' together, but, leaving. You can always leave. Who knows, maybe things will calm down in a coupla years. The war is still fresh, you know?"

Rinoa smiled sadly at the cowboy, "Irvine. I'm going to miss all of you too," She chewed on her lip, trying to prevent the tears forming in her eyes, "I can't keep living like this, thinking everyone hates me or wants to kill me. I'll go crazy and then... and then I really WILL become the Sorceress everyone is afraid of," Rinoa shook her head as the tears began to sting her eyes, "If we wait... I'm afraid we'll wait forever. Cid will find a way to..."

Irvine nodded, not wanting to cause the girl further discomfort, "Its alright, darlin', please don't cry. Squall would kill me for less." The comment brought a smile to Rinoa's lips accompanied by a combination of a laugh, sob and hiccup. Irvine smiled and reached out to place his hand on Rinoa's knee, "Hey, who knows. Maybe things WILL calm down over time. Maybe ten years from now y'all can come out of hiding... anythin' is possible, no?"

The train car door opened again and Squall took in the scene. His girlfriend, soon to be wife, crying with Quistis and Selphie squeezed in on either side, and Irvine sitting in front of her, hand on her knee. He cleared his throat, giving Irvine an icy stare. He wasn't thrilled about the circumstances either, but he had to protect Rinoa, both physically and mentally. He didn't want to make it any harder on her, and his friends trying to convince her to stay certainly wasn't helping. If he could find another way he would, but time was not on their side. Maybe after being away for a while he might think of another plan, but until then, they would be Lev and Hime, fisherman and wife.

Spending life with Rinoa was something he was looking forward to either way. Truth be told, while he would miss being a mercenary, Squall secretly enjoyed fishing. It was something Seifer and he had bonded over after Ultimecia. Okay, bonded was a strong word, maybe sitting in a somewhat close radius of each other without wanting to kill each other was a better description. And hey, for Seifer and him, that was pretty good. In the end though, though Squall would never EVER admit it out loud, he really hated the idea of losing his friends.

The three other SeeD jumped up from their seats after seeing Squall's look and quickly exited the train car, leaving Squall alone with Rinoa. He sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her towards him. Rinoa curled towards him, leaning her head against his chest, her sobs diminishing into his shirt. "I know," He said softly to her, resting his chin on top of her head, "I know, Rin..."

* * *

Quistis found Mia and Seifer sitting on the pier, looking over the ocean. Seifer was sitting over the edge, his fishing rod in hand, legs dangling over the water and Mia was leaning against him, knees bent in front of her, smoking a cigarette. They both smiled as Quistis approached. Seifer noticed it was the first time Mia had actually looked semi-pleased since they left Garden.

Quistis tried not to run towards them, even though she was very excited to see Seifer and Mia again, each of them intact, "You guys look comfy."

Seifer grunted, "She's bad luck."

Mia pulled herself up to a standing position, giving Quistis a tight hug, "I'll be glad when this is over."

Seifer patted on the wooden pier next to him, indicating Quistis to sit. She sat down and Seifer snaked his arm around her neck, pulling her face towards him for a brief, but intense kiss before turning back to his fishing pole. Mia smirked down at the couple, "Seifer missed you, Quisty. He hasn't shut up about it all day."

Quistis smiled and scooted closer to him. For a while the three of them were silent. Quistis and Seifer staring down into the ocean as Seifer recast his fishing rod, and Mia looking away from them towards the sunset, lighting another cigarette. Unfortunately, they would have to address business at some point, and Quistis had to break the reverie, "Did you see the birds?" Quistis was asking if they were being watched.

"They seem to be flying all the time," Mia responded, confirming her suspicion, "I think they sometimes get fed at the pier." Mia was trying to tell Quistis that Herzog knew Mia was meeting with the SeeD and Rinoa, and hoping that Mia was gathering information for him. Herzog assumed she was a double agent. While she definitely was a double agent, Herzog didn't know Mia wasn't on his side anymore.

"Oh." Quistis nodded, "So, are you coming to Caraway's tonight? He's having a dinner with everyone to discuss the plans for the celebration."

Mia nodded, "Of course. Herzog is invited and he's taking me. Seifer even managed to scrape in an invite, though he's going to be at the kid's table."

Seifer rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever, all the bodyguards are coming, we just don't get to be in the actual dining room. I'm sure Caraway will be thrilled to see me."

There was another moment of silence, this one being broken by Mia, "Quistis, we know."

Quistis glanced over her shoulder at Mia, curious, "Pardon?" Mia could be referring to any number of things, Quistis wasn't sure how to read the cryptic statement. She glanced at Seifer for understanding, but he continued to stare at his fishing pole.

"We KNOW." Mia said again, "I saw Laguna today." She said, as if that explained everything.

Laguna... _Oh. Raine's ring._ So Laguna must have told Mia about Squall and Rinoa's plans to run off. So much for keeping quiet. Then again, Rinoa was planning on telling Mia anyway. "Wait, you saw President Loire?"

Mia nodded, stomping out her cigarette, "I meet with the Chancellor every few weeks. Laguna was there."

_That's right. She reports to the Chancellor about Herzog's activity._ Though once again, Herzog mistakenly thought it was the other way around. "How was Laguna feeling?" Quistis was trying to get a gauge on how the President thought about how long lost son running off.

Mia shrugged, "He wasn't in a very sharing mood. I don't think he is going to attend Caraway's celebration, he isn't very, ah, supportive of him."

Mia hoped that Quistis was understanding what she was trying to say. Laguna was certainly less than thrilled about Squall's idea. While he had agreed to support his son in terms of claiming Rinoa had been frozen, he had every intention of trying to talk them out of leaving. In fact, he was planning on trying to stop them. While Mia couldn't say that, she hoped Quistis understood that Laguna was against it, and more than just in spirit.

Unfortunately that wasn't all the news she had to deliver. Thankfully Seifer delivered the rest for her, "I'm not sure we are going to the official celebration either." Seifer said softly, willing Quistis to understand.

The wheels in Quistis' head turned as she processed the information out, "You'll be... out of town already?" A nod from Seifer gave her all the confirmation she needed. The kidnapping plans had clearly changed. They weren't going to take Rinoa at the celebration, they were going to take her before. The celebration was in two days which meant... "I... I've got to go, I'm late for a meeting with Squall." She stood up abruptly, confirming to her companions that she had understood their message.

Mia nodded in her direction and gave her a wink and Seifer slowly stood up, grabbing her hand before she dashed off and squeezing it gently, flashing her a soft smile.

"Godspeed, Queen," Mia murmured after her retreating form. Quistis was going to need it, because time was not on her side. Mia turned towards Seifer, "Well, guess we should head to Caraway's for dinner tonight."

Seifer nodded, standing up and taking one last look out at the ocean before turning towards Mia, "and as for tomorrow..."

"As for tomorrow," Mia repeated after him quietly, "We'll all see if our work paid off."

* * *

To say dinner was tense would be an understatement. Caraway had invited diplomats who were in town for his celebration to the mansion, including the Chancellor of the League and the notorious Delegate Herzog. After most of the gang had found more out about the man, it took them everything they had to not kill him on the spot. Even more disturbing was the fact that Mia could stand next to him and seem unaffected. Then again, Squall suspected that her mind was somewhere else completely whenever she was around him.

Seifer had been clever to warn Quistis that the kidnapping plans had changed, as the SeeD had to rearrange their plans regarding Rinoa. It wasn't a huge rearrangement, but it gave them less time to scope out the area and identify potential threats. It also meant that the locations of the kidnapping had changed, so they had to assume that it was going to take place in Caraway's mansion. If that was the case however, it changed the suspect list completely. They still did not know who Brutus was. For all they knew it could be Caraway himself, though that seemed very unlikely.

Quistis had been able to warn them that the kidnapping plans had changed, but she did not have the heart to tell Rinoa and Squall that Laguna had informed Mia of their plans and was not as supportive as he had led Squall to believe. He couldn't be blamed, really, Squall was his son, Laguna believed that it was with in his power to fix everything. When push came to shove, however, Laguna would do what Squall asked, if there truly was no other way.

The dinner, while tense, had thankfully passed by without a hitch. Relatively speaking. The Chancellor, Caraway, Herzog and Laguna were essentially the only ones who spoke. Squall was convinced that if he opened his mouth he would either end up punching Caraway, shooting Herzog or yelling at Laguna. Rinoa was biting her lip to not yell at her father. Selphie and Irvine spent the whole evening either making ga-ga eyes at each other or getting worried about Rinoa and Squall. Quistis kept glancing at the door that Seifer was behind longingly, and Mia may as well have been on another planet. At least it was over and had gone by event free. The after dinner time in the parlor was not so lucky.

Things were fine until Caraway actually addressed Mia directly, much to the shock of everyone in the room. The butler was pouring Mia a glass of cognac when Caraway stepped closer to her, "Mia, are you sure that's a good idea?"

Mia took a deep breath, stealing her nerves, choosing to remain silent lest she say something she regretted. She simply glared at the man and took a sip of the glass in her hand.

Laguna, the ever observant one, waltzed over to the two of them and placed a hand on Mia's shoulder, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand as he chuckled nervously, "Fury, I didn't know you knew little Penny.. err Mia, here." Leave it to Laguna to open the preverbal can of worms, and not only open them, but pour them in the center of the room and set them on fire.

Caraway narrowed his eyes at Laguna. As if he needed more reasons to hate the man. "Of course I know her. She's even harder to control than Rinoa. Penelope was my great grandmothers name."

Rinoa couldn't keep quiet, "Are you SERIOUS, Caraway?" Squall grabbed her hand and squeezed it with more force than he intended, hoping to quiet her.

Squall was surprised when Mia stopped Rinoa's anger, gently locking arms with her, "Rinoa... it's fine. Caraway thought I died with my mom. When he found out I was at Garden..."

"I asked for a SeeD that would be the right age and have the right skill set. I knew you would speak Galbadian," To Caraway this somehow equated with making up for the first 5 years where all he did was send a check in the mail. It was no wonder Mia went by her mother's name, if her birth name was the only thing ever given to her by Caraway. Her father had been absent, though he did send money. When Mia had found her mother, dead of an overdose, Mia decided to disappear as well, rather than get pulled into the foster system. Caraway had figured she died. Years later he discovered she was at Garden, he requested a SeeD that best described what he thought she would be like, hoping to have Mia sent to him to see if he could right his wrongs. Unfortunately, Mia turned out to be more of a hand full than Rinoa would ever be at her worst, and Caraway had recently lost Julia, putting his will at an all time low. Mia found long lost Dad, only to essentially be rejected by him.

Caraway looked at Rinoa sternly, "Rinoa, please don't do this right now. We have guests.

Rinoa shook her head, "No way, Caraway. We're not gonna all pretend to be a happy family. You didn't even TELL me I had a sister."

Mia began to pull Rinoa away from Caraway and towards the door as the other occupants in the room's conversations began to quiet as they tried to listen in on the mini family feud. "Rinoa. It's fine. I wasn't what he expected and wanted nothing to do with him. Turned out good for him, because I got Herzog's eyes off...off you."

Rinoa almost vomited. That was probably one of the grossest things she had ever heard in her life, especially if Caraway knowingly sent his own daughter to spy on a man who had a known thing for underage girls. She prayed to Hyne that Caraway had no idea. He couldn't.

Mia shook her head, seemingly reading Rinoa's mind as she tugged Rinoa up the stairs and away from the rest of the group, "Rinoa, I don't think he really knew. At least, I have to believe he didn't know."

Rinoa nodded, following Mia through the hallway's of the mansion towards her bedroom. She couldn't get away from the dinner fast enough.

Back in the parlor, Laguna was staring dumbfounded at Caraway. The girl he had brought to Garden years ago had a father. Dear old Dad was the same man who married Julia Heartilly. When Mia had reappeared into Laguna's life at first he didn't recognize her, especially because she went by a new name. She was around the League plenty, and he often attended the meetings she had with the Chancellor to inform him of Herzog's activities.

It wasn't until Laguna saw the tattoo of the owl on her hand and asked her about Timber than he realized. Mia stared at him with those big green eyes and asked _Do you remember?_. Of course he did. It wasn't like Ellone, who he thought about constantly, or trekked the globe for.

He remembered Penny, or Mia rather, but not the way she remembered him. He just felt happy that things had turned out fine, he honestly hadn't thought about it much in the past 20 years. Which turned out good for Mia, because it also meant he didn't feel guilty for being attracted to her. It was impossible not to, she was almost unbearably beautiful. Beauty aside though, she was still 20 years younger than him. To Laguna, that was just too much. That didn't mean that he would deny himself enjoying the company of an intelligent pretty woman, he just had come to see her as another long lost niece, especially as Ellone and she were the same age. Laguna, being Laguna, was utterly unaware of the fact that Mia was enamored with him. If he had been aware, he probably would have toned down his affection towards her, lest something platonic be misconstrued as romantic. That was, of course, if Laguna had a clue.

Needless to say, he certainly never expected that Caraway was the girl's father. "Fury..." Laguna began.

Caraway snorted at the rival, "Please, Loire, you're hardly the person to take parenting advice from."

It was then that all hell broke lose. Squall jumped behind Laguna, holding him from breaking Caraway's nose and Irvine darted in between the two men, "Alright now, let's just calm down, you hear? Everyone's lil on edge tonight. Take some deep breaths."

The Chancellor looked offended, "You two are gentlemen. Please!"

Caraway shrugged his shoulders, pushing Irvine off of him, "Gentlemen, my foot. That man is a President and doesn't even wear a tie!"

Laguna was about to speak again, but Squall grabbed his shirt, "Laguna. It's not worth it. Don't make Rinoa upset."

Mentioning getting Rinoa upset was enough to snap Laguna out of it, and he reluctantly followed Squall into the foyer of the mansion. Laguna was more than ready to leave Caraway's house. Seifer was sitting in the foyer, along with the other bodyguards of the Chancellor and Herzog, as was Kiros, having come with Laguna. Quistis had been sitting with Seifer as well.

"Can you believe that?" Laguna shook his head and took his coat from Kiros, who did not seem remotely surprised. "You're right though, can't upset Rinoa. Where is she anyway?"

Squall suddenly panicked. In the distraction of Caraway and Laguna almost fighting he had lost site of her. Last thing he remember was her yelling at Caraway and Mia taking her out of the room. _Shit._ Squall looked at Quistis, who seemed to be coming to the same conclusion.

"She just went upstairs with Mia," Seifer said softly.

"Just the two of them?" Squall asked, hoping the answer was no.

Seifer nodded. Before any of them had reached the top of the stairs, a strangled yell echoed down the hallway. Squall ran _please, oh please, oh please_. He burst into the door to Rinoa's room and found her on the ground. _At least she's here._

Squall knelt by her side and cradled her head in his lap, she was still breathing. He looked up to find Mia leaning out the window, there were the bodies of two men with holes in their carotid arteries on the floor. Glancing quickly over his shoulder, he saw Seifer crouching down checking the pulse of another one on the ground outside the door that Squall had overlooked in his hurry. He turned back down to Rinoa, she was breathing, but she wasn't awake either.

"Sleep spell," Mia muttered, turning around with her hair pin in her hand, glancing for something to wipe the blood off on other than her evening gown, "She's okay."

Squall silently thanked whatever Deity was out there, and mentally cursed himself for not stocking Esuna spells. Thankfully, Quistis had. Rinoa's body glowed for a moment and she opened her eyes. Pale blue eyes gazed back at her. It was the most beautiful thing in the world.

"Hi."

"Hi..." Squall replied, pulling her up into a sharp hug, "I can't believe I was so..."

Rinoa shook her head, "It's fine... Mia was here and she saved me."

Mia, satisfied her inspection of the window and room were sufficient, shook her head, "Don't thank me yet. This wasn't Brutus, this was a fluke."

This wasn't even the beginning...

* * *

The night eventually died down and people made their way out. Thankfully most of the commotion hadn't made it's way downstairs and most of the guests were unaware to the dead bodies upstairs. Mia had even convinced Herzog to let her stay at Caraway's, which of course Herzog was more than happy to oblige. To Herzog, Mia being there just meant he had eyes on Sorceress Rinoa at all times.

Squall had locked himself into a room with Rinoa, which Caraway was not pleased about for a myriad of reasons. Staying with the General had its perks though, and the clean up was painless, and for once, Squall didn't have to do any of it.

"Squall, I'm okay, seriously."

Squall's face could not hide his concern as he studied Rinoa carefully for the thirtieth time, "I know... I just, I can't believe" He was furious with himself for being distracted for a moment. A moment was all it took.

Rinoa tilted her head forward, her chocolate eyes staring into his, "Hey. Mia was with me. I wasn't alone." Whatever reservations Squall had about trusting Mia had vanished that night, to say the least. Mia may be a deeply unwell woman, but she definitely loved Rinoa.

Squall lifted his hand to gently trace Rinoa's cheek before tangling it in her hair and leaning his forehead against hers, "You are never leaving my sight again."

Rinoa smiled, "How am I going to shower?"

_Little minx_. Squall grinned back at her, "I think we can figure something out."

Rinoa surprised Squall then, by bursting out into laughter. He gazed at her with a raised eyebrow. Either this was let-down post-adrenaline crazy laughter, or she actually found something funny. Her contagious giggling brought a smile to his face. She finally calmed herself enough to explain, "Squall.. our dad's almost got in a fist fight tonight."

Okay, so that had been pretty funny. They had all been so caught up in the emotion of the evening that the fact hadn't quite settled. Squall joined in her laughter, chuckling slightly, "I hate to say it, but my money was on Caraway."

Rinoa wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him, "No WAY. Laguna would have taken him."

Squall smiled unabashed at her, "Well, if they almost fought over that, imagine how they would be at a wedding...In fact..." Squall pulled his head back from hers and grabbed her hand, pressing his into it tightly, "Rinoa..."

He found himself unable to finish as Rinoa gazed down into her hand at Raine's simple ring. Rinoa had never expected a grand proposal, or a proposal at all for any matter. Irvine had been right when he once said that in their hearts they were married anyway. Still, the fact that Squall had gone to the trouble of convincing Laguna to give him the ring meant the world. I mean, Squall had actually voluntarily talked to Laguna about something. Rinoa peered up at him with a silly grin plastering her face.

"Marry me." It was said in a way only Squall could. Authoritative, yet compassionate. Certainly not said as a question, nor a command, but simple a statement. Like it was a fact. Unbeknownst to Rinoa, Squall's heart was pounding in his chest. Even though Squall knew Rinoa loved him, it was impossible to not feel a nagging voice in the back of his head giving him doubt. To him, he had no idea how she could stand to be around him most of the time. She was like bright sunshine and he was a huge cloud that covered it and then poured down freezing rain. If it were a cartoon she would have puppies and bunnies and a bunch of flowers blooming around her and Squall would stomp on the flowers and systematically execute the animals. Or at least, that's how he felt.

To Rinoa, he was perfect. Not just because he was unreasonably attractive... but because he LOVED. His love was thick and heavy, intense, just like him. She saw his depth, and just like she let him be himself, he always let her just be herself. He never faulted her for her silliness, or undying faith in people, or her mild clumsiness. He loved her all the more for it.

Truth be told, she wasn't entirely surprised by Squall asking her. She was surprised by Raine's ring, however. They had spoken about marriage anyway, and to Rinoa, their hearts had been married for a long time.

His next words, however, did surprise her, as Squall slid Raine's ring onto Rinoa's finger, "Tonight..."

"What?"

"Marry me, tonight."

* * *

A/N: Not much to say. PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Don't own FF8

A/N: Wow, it's been a bit, I know. I've had this chapter brewing around. I'm not super happy with it but I didn't know how to make it better and get the story to where I want it to be. Blah...

Quick recap of the story: Mia, the former head of Trabia Garden appears at Balamb to warn the whole gang about a conspiracy to kidnap Rinoa. Turns out the man she has been spying on for years, Delegate Herzog, is planning on kidnapping Rinoa and killing her, transferring her powers to Mia in the hopes to take over the League of Nations (the governing body of all the countries that both Laguna and Caraway serve on).

Mia seems to be less than stable and it is revealed that she has a history of drug abuse stemming from losing her mother and then feeling betrayed by her father. Her father turns out to be none other than General Caraway, which is eventually told to Rinoa. The kidnapper is going by the code name "Brutus" in reference to Julius Caesar, implying that whoever is going to take Rinoa is someone close who is going to betray them. The group is in Deling to celebrate Caraway's Jubilee as General. The intel on the kidnapping says it is going to take place sometime before the celebration.

Meanwhile, Squall and Rinoa have hatched a plan that after foiling the kidnapping attempt they are going to disappear and take on new identities. They have found out that Cid has been secretly meeting with Dr. Odine, presumably having to do with Rinoa. Squall, realizing Garden is no longer safe for Rinoa is going to stage her being frozen in Esthar and they are going to run away after Caraway's Jubilee. Rinoa feels that as long as she is a Sorceress, she won't be safe. Squall decides that he wants to marry Rinoa before they have to change their names and has proposed to her, the gang already having planned a secret wedding...

**Part VIII**

"Tonight?" Rinoa wasn't about to question Squall's declaration and commitment, but the logistics were a problem, "But...how?"

Squall couldn't help but smile, "So... that's a yes?"

Rinoa launched herself into the arms of the man in front of her, causing him to stumble off the bed and turn his body as he stood with her in order to prevent both of them from falling, much like she had over two years ago on a train in Timber. Squall steadied Rinoa and nuzzled into the side of her face, kissing her jaw and inhaling deeply. _Let me alway's remember this_. "Come on, Rinoa, we have an appointment."

Rinoa pulled back from him and tilted her head, "Huh?"

_Nice try_ Squall was not going to let 'cuteness' cause him to give up the entire plan. It was supposed to be a surprised. Instead he lead her to the doorway of the room and opened it where Zell was waiting for them.

"So..?" Zell was trying his best to not look like a cat that got the canary, but the huge grin across his face was obvious.

Rinoa squealed, "Yes!"

Squall rolled his eyes, "You say yes to him, but to me.. just a 'how'?" He teased.

Zell smirked, "Come on, Reverend Zell at your service. Everyone else is waiting at the spot."

Squall raised an eyebrow, "Reverend?"

Zell punched at an imaginary opponent in the air, "The internet, BABY!"

* * *

They made their way out of the mansion and were about to sneak through the streets of Deling when the sound of running footsteps stopped them. The unmistakable blur of Selphie zoomed up to them, breathless.

"You've... Seifer...says... gotta... not..." She huffed.

Squall narrowed his eyes, "Selphie, what is it?"

"SQUALL!" Seifer was standing 100 yards away with Mia and Quistis, "We need to hold them outside."

"We need to hold who?" Squall grabbed Selphie's shoulder.

Selphie had caught her breath, "At least...20 they look military trained"

_So this is it._ "Now?" _Why now?_ Squall looked at Rinoa and then over towards his companions who were now running towards them. Mia had been right in warning them that the attack was going to come before Caraway's ball, however, none of them had expected it to be the same night they had already failed to take Rinoa from the mansion. They were not completely ready for this, but they were SeeD, thinking on the spot was part of the job description.

Squall met Rinoa's eyes. Her eyes were filled with the same fear she had before entering the Sorceress memorial. _I won't let anyone hurt you, Rinoa. _Squall hoped that Rinoa could feel his forced calmness in his mind. Rinoa nodded up at him and grabbed his hand giving it a squeeze. _I need more than that. _Squall leaned down and pulled Rinoa in for a sudden and passionate kiss, uncaring that he had an audience.

Pulling back from his wide-eyed fiancee, the Commander gave his orders, "Rinoa, go with Selphie, Quistis and Mia. Zell, Seifer and I will fight."

"But..." Rinoa started.

Squall shook his head, "No, too dangerous, the girls will protect you."

Mia spoke up, "I want to fight."

Squall shook his head, "No, Selphie and Quistis are good, but you know these people, I need you by Rinoa." _I hope I don't regret this._

All people present except for Rinoa saluted at Squall. Seifer even saluted, much to Squall's surprise. Squall was still gripping Rinoa's hand and carefully fingered the ring Rinoa had just put on. Giving her hand a final squeeze, he reluctantly let go and drew his gunblade. Rinoa responded by leaning up and kissing his cheek, "Love you. Be safe." she whispered before running back into the darkness with Quistis, Selphie and Mia.

Squall looked over at Seifer, expecting some snide comment, but Seifer just nodded at him. Seifer appeared understand... Well, as understanding as he could look anyway.

* * *

Selphie whispered in the darkness towards her companions, "I don't think we should go to the mansion, right, Rinny? Not safe... Quisty? Mia?" Her voice sounded panicked. Probably because she had seen the sheer number of armed men coming their way.

Quistis nodded, "I agree. But we need to get high ground, indoors. You know the city: Rinoa, Mia, what do you think?"

Rinoa furrowed her brow, "Um.. the clock tower? Or the gate in the center of town?"

Quistis hmmed, "Both sound good...Mia?"

"Clock tower gives better view... let's go there." Mia caught up with them after pausing to light a cigarette. The other companions nodded in consent to the suggestion.

The girls made their way towards the clock tower in Deling, the same one where Irvine and Squall had waited long ago to assassinate Edea. The Clock Tower was a good choice, not only did it have high ground and a good view of the city, but also it only had two exits.

They snuck through the city for the most part unnoticed. Certainly no attacks at least. They continued their journey in silence. It wasn't until they entered the building that Quistis finally spoke, "It's too quiet."

Mia nodded, "I agree, Quisty. You think we were followed?"

"Maybe. Just be ready." Quistis readied her whip and scanned the darkness around them. Selphie adjusted her nunchaku. Rinoa felt naked as she didn't have a weapon with her, she was expecting to walk out of her father's mansion and getting married, not fight soldier's. She was silly to have been so optimistic.

Mia looked over at her sympathetically as she pulled her knife from it's sheath, "Your hands, Rin... best weapon you have, remember? Have status spells ready."

Rinoa nodded and steadied her nerves. They all stood like cats ready to pounce in the silent darkness, the sound of the clock ticking barely heard in the background.

"Rinoa..." Mia's voice next to her whispered.

Rinoa looked over at the girl and nodded in the darkness, Mia continued softly so as Quistis and Selphie wouldn't hear, "You're not Caesar."

"Huh?"

"Caesar... you know, Brutus is the kidnapper? You're not Caesar. Herzog is." Mia explained.

"I don't understand..." Rinoa blinked. If Herzog was Caesar, then who was Brutus... and what was she? Just a minor pawn in the play? Or...

Mia reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly, "You have to trust me. This is the only way..."

There was a bright flash of light blinding everyone in the tower. Rinoa heard Selphie scream.

"SLEEP" It was Mia's voice.

Her vision slowly was coming to, but it was cloudy. Rinoa made out blobs, one of them was coming towards her. Before she could throw the status spell from her hands, Rinoa felt a sharp pain through her chest. The last thing she remembered was Mia's voice once again whispering "trust me..." before she slipped away, blood oozing from a knife wound in her chest and with it, her Sorceress powers.

* * *

Seifer smirked, "So, you and me on the same side, Puberty boy? This is gonna be fun."

Squall shrugged, "Under different circumstances, maybe."

"You know you love it," Seifer charged at an oncoming soldier, slicing him cleanly in two, "One point for me."

Another body was thrown in front of Squall, "Don't forget about me," Zell cracked his knuckles as a platoon charged them.

Within minutes the three men stood with bodies of dead and unconscious mercenaries at their feet. Non-SeeD mercenaries. They looked Galbadian for the most part.

Seifer shook his head, "Something isn't right. That was too easy."

Squall was about to say the same thing when he felt _something_. It was like someone had injected freezing cold water into his veins and it was spreading through his body. A moment later it felt like a shadow had passed through him, taking all of his life and strength away. At the same time he felt himself being sucked dry he felt an excruciating squeezing in his chest making it hard to breath. It only lasted 4 seconds, but it was enough to cause Squall to double to the ground, pale and clammy.

"Wha..."

Seifer was looking at him wide-eyed, "Shit."

Zell had crouched next to him, "Squall, were you hit or something, man?" He sounded worried.

_I must look really bad if they are looking at me like I'm dying_. Squall clenched his fist to the ground and took a deep breath, "Seifer..."

"The same thing happened with Ultimecia. When you defeated her... I felt it." Seifer offered a hand down to Squall, "You feel like a spirit just walked through you, right?"

Squall stared at Seifer's hand and pulled himself to a stand, "How did you.."

"Rinoa just lost her powers." Seifer said, turning in the direction the girls had run, "If I know Quisty, they headed for the clock tower."

"WHAT?" Squall cringed in discomfort, but adrenaline took over at Seifer's words. "Let's go!"

More soldiers had come from the other direction, about to impede their progress.

"Go!" Zell shouted, "Irvine and me can hold 'em off."

Squall nodded at his friend and Seifer and he tore down the street to the tower.

_Please please please_ Squall was running faster than he ever had in his life, not caring that people were running from him in the street. Watching two men run through the street covered in blood with two giant gunblades was not a normal sight. When he got to the tower he knew something was wrong. He normally could _feel_ Rinoa all the time, he felt something, but it wasn't her. Or if it was, something was seriously askew. Then he felt it, a huge surge of power that caused the building to shake slightly.

Squall turned around the corner and his heart sank. Selphie and Quistis were on the ground, unconscious but did not look injured. Rinoa was on the ground, a pool of blood underneath her, pale... dead. _ Please..._ Herzog was standing next to her body with a knife and the Chancellor was in the room as well, apparently trying to reason with Herzog.

And Mia... Mia was standing, she looked a foot taller, her hair was waving around her. It reminded him of Edea. There was no question in his mind, Mia was now the Sorceress. Her eyes glowed golden and she appeared to be fighting with herself.

"Sleep spell..." Seifer muttered after kneeling next to Quistis.

"NO!" Squall charged towards the center of the room towards Rinoa.

Mia didn't even look at him, but with a flick of her wrist sent Squall crashing into the wall across the room. Squall slid down the wall and got to one knee. He tried to get up but there was an imaginary force holding him in place. He would fight it.

"Insolent fool.." Mia murmured, her voice thick and heavy. Mia stepped around Rinoa's body to stand in front of Herzog, "Knight Squall, your services are no longer needed. Rinoa is not your Sorceress anymore."

Squall spat on the ground, "She's... your sister. I'm sure as hell not going to be... your knight."

Mia laughed, sounding unstable, "Please. I don't need you, I have a knight. As for my sister. I _saved _her. I relieved her from the burden of this power."

Squall shook his head, "Mia. You KILLED her," His voice sounded strangled in his ears. It sounded unfamiliar. _This is a bad dream._ "You...killed her."

Mia was standing right in front of Squall and Seifer, both of them paralyzed, "Did I? I didn't stab her. I. Saved. Rinoa. None of you could, but I did." She whipped around towards Delegate Herzog and smiled at him.

Herzog stepped over Rinoa's body, waddling towards Mia, "That's right, darling Mia. You didn't hurt dear sis at all. Now, more importantly." Herzog turned his attention back to the Chancellor, "Chancellor, I've decided that the League needs to go back to an autocratic rule. Don't you agree, Mia?"

"Yes." Mia's voice was returning to normal and Squall could feel the pressure holding him down start to release.

Herzog laughed again, "Excellent. Now, come with me, Mia. I am your dear Knight, after all."

Mia's head snapped up and her eyes flashed. Herzog's body was slammed across the room away from Rinoa. Mia formed ice spears in her hand and they zoomed towards Herzog, piercing through his shoulders and knees, holding him to the wall, "I said I agree, I didn't say I thought you should be in charge." She turned towards the Chancellor and stepped towards him as he offered her his arm. After taking his arm she turned towards Herzog again, "You stupid, stupid fat man, you killed my sister... do you really think I would support you? Or take you as a knight?"

The Chancellor laughed, suddenly no longer appearing to be a bumbling nervous fool, "Sorceress, I accept your endorsement." The man that had seemed as silly and unorganized as Laguna suddenly seemed as dangerous and powerful as Caraway, but multiplied by about 50. He had put on a very good show.

Mia released the Chancellor's arm and the spell holding Squall and Seifer was completely released. Squall tried to pull himself to his feet, but he was still dizzy. Mia walked up to Herzog's body that was hanging from the wall. She whipped her pin from her hair and held it to Herzog's neck. Herzog was sweating and there was a delicious fear in his eyes. Mia pressed the pin into his skin, causing a small hole, "I have waited so long... look at you. This is how it feels to be scared. Now who has the power, Herzog... and you gave it to me." She pulled the pin back from his neck, "But, death is too good for you... I'll let you rot in District D Prison. Do you know what they do to child molesters in prison? Oh, that is a fate far worse than death."

The Chancellor took Mia's arm again, "Come my dear, I have a speech to make. As for you, Herzog, you will be found guilty for the murder of Rinoa Heartilly, enjoy life in prison."

Squall's eyes widened as he found the strength to charge towards Mia. The Chancellor was behind it the whole time? He was going to take over the whole League with Mia at his side? He was about to bring his gunblade down when it clashed against metal with a loud sound. Green eyes glaring back at him.

"Seifer!" Squall hissed.

Mia smirked as she walked out of the room with the Chancellor. She paused at the door, looking back and for a moment, Squall thought that for a moment her eyes looked sad before madness took her again. Mia spoke, "Come, Knight."

Seifer pushed back against Squall, causing his body to stumble backwards next to Rinoa's corpse on the ground. Seifer followed Mia out of the room... A knight once again.

There was commotion downstairs and Squall could hear Seifer's voice saying to arrest Herzog upstairs for murder...

_Murder..._

In the flurry of activity and confusion he had almost forgotten Rinoa was... maybe because he didn't really want to believe it. He knew though, he couldn't feel her inside his head anymore. He used to think that not having Rinoa in his head anymore would be good, but it wasn't. It was horrible. He had never felt more alone in his life. _I just want to hear your voice._

He gathered Rinoa's body in his arms, tears burning at his eyes. The ring on her finger... _How could I have been too late. Open your eyes, please just say something. _One of the tears fell and hit Rinoa on the cheek. Squall reached out to wipe it off of her, taking the time to trace her cheek. _You're still warm..._

His hand traced from her cheek to her neck and he felt something. On closer inspection he realized her body was glowing very faintly. _A Regen spell? Mia?_ Then on Rinoa's neck he confirmed his suspicion. It was a pulse. Rinoa was alive.

* * *

Sometime later they were in Caraway's mansion. Rinoa was in bed, stabilized for the most part. The TV turned on unexpectedly and a broadcast appeared on the screen. The Chancellor of the League of Nations was speaking.

_"Good evening everyone..._

_I come tonight with sad news. Delegate Herzog of Galbadia has committed treason and attempted to murder an 18 year old girl. He will be tried for his crimes in court. The girl in question was a Sorceress, and subsequently, she is no longer a threat._

_Because of the dangerous instability of this world, I have decided to become Supreme Lord Chancellor, invoking Act B Part ii of the Treaty of Nations. I will act as single handed ruler of the nations to try to bring peace to this world._

_Assisting me is the new Sorceress who will act as my council..._

The screen flashed to Mia who was standing next to him, looking eerily like Edea had those years ago. Next to her stood Seifer, gunblade in hand.

Squall heard a strangled sob next to him, it was Quistis, "How... Seifer?"

Squall shook his head, "He said he was her knight."

"No... no he wouldn't betray us. Something else is going on. I mean, Rinoa is alive too, it's got to be part of a plan, right?" Quistis was trying desperately to believe the words coming out of her mouth. The last thing they needed was a power hungry man trying to take over the world with an unstable Sorceress.

Unstable Sorceress... except she had a Knight. Was that why Seifer had gone with her? To protect her from herself? Squall would be the last one to defend Seifer, but it certainly seemed like there was more to the story.

Squall looked down at Rinoa's sleeping form. She had briefly regained consciousness saying something about Mia casting Regen. So Mia had kept her alive... it didn't change the fact that she let her get stabbed in the first place. That and she had taken her powers. But wasn't that what they wanted? For Rinoa to be able to live a normal life? Would she still stay at Garden?

Casting aside the worry of their relationship Squall focused on the other thing plaguing his mind... yet another person trying to take over the world, it was only a matter of time before they got sucked into the war too. Chaos was about to erupt.

Quistis seemed to be reading his thoughts, "We can't let them do this, you know..."

Squall nodded, still looking down at Rinoa, pushing the hair out of her face, "I know."

Quistis stood and stepped out of the room, leaving Squall alone with Rinoa. Squall bent down and pressed his head against her chest, listening to the soft beating of her heart. _I almost lost you, again._ He would protect her now, even if she wasn't a Sorceress anymore, he would stay her Knight. Maybe she would still be willing to marry him even though the rush to leave was now eliminated.

_We can stay..._

Squall reflected on Mia's words. That Mia thought she had 'saved' Rinoa from the fate of being a Sorceress. Maybe it was true. But now, there was certainly nothing stopping Garden from its "true mission" of going after the Sorceress. Now their war would begin again. Mia had to know they would be coming after her. Then again, she had said this was her 'last mission'. Maybe she knew all along.

Squall focused on Rinoa's beating heart again and closed his eyes. _Thank god..._ He had seen with Mia how easy it is for someone's mind to snap, and for a moment when he believed Rinoa to be dead, his almost had. If he did lose her, he had no doubt that he would become the SeeD that everyone feared he might become... the one Mia had become. _Don't ever leave me, Rinoa._

* * *

__Blah, don't like this chapter... ugh.

R&R


	9. Chapter 9

Yes, I am sorry for the delay! I was unhappy with the story for a while. But I'm back!

Review, pretty please!

Disclaimer: Still don't own FF8

**Part IX:**

"Squall!"

The pounding on the door was awakening him from the most wonderful dream. Rinoa was...

"SQUALL!"

Rinoa was...

"SQUALL WAKE UP, IT'S IMPORTANT!"

_Dammit, Selphie..._ Squall cracked an eye open. _It wasn't all a dream_. Rinoa was sleeping peacefully next to him. The IV had been removed and she was recovering. She had woken up once since losing her powers, grabbed his hand and had fallen asleep again. Squall had remained at her side faithfully. Once she had woken the first time, he had finally allowed himself to relax slightly. One thing he was sure of was that she felt... different. He didn't feel differently about _her_ but she herself, felt different, the feeling in the room, the buzz that emanated from her body, was gone. _Will that change us?_

"Squall, I'm coming in!"

Squall grumbled and pulled himself out of the bed, dashing to the door just as Selphie was bursting in, "What?"

Selphie looked apologetic, "Is she..."

Squall nodded, "Yeah, she's okay, I think. What is it?"

Selphie shook her head, "Sorry, yeah, um... it's Quistis, she's... she's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's not in her room. Her stuff is gone. She's gone."

_Mia..._

* * *

The past few days had been taxing to say the least. Rinoa's injury had been life threatening, but Mia had healed her with strategically placed albeit risky timing. Mia had successfully inherited the power of the Sorceress from Rinoa. Rinoa herself had mixed feelings. In a lot of ways she felt free, her life had opened up again and she didn't have to live in fear. On the other hand she worried about her relationship with Squall.

Maybe their closeness was merely because she had become a Sorceress? Maybe it was a spell... lust and not love. On top of her concern regarding Squall, she also felt alone. In a strange way, having the presence of dozens of Sorceresses before her made her never feel alone. Not that she was having voices in her head, but it was a presence, like a dull hum of electricity constantly coursing through her body. Now, she just felt cold. At least the IV was out of her arm, not having cold saline coursing through her veins was a start to normalcy.

Rinoa knew that Mia thought she was doing Rinoa a favor. She understood and had seen it in her mind before the whole thing played out before her. The last thing she heard in her sister's mind was _You're free._.

On top of all of this, the most troubling thing to Rinoa was: What next? The Chancellor was nothing like Vinzer Deling, and Rinoa had a hard time believing that he would go on an all out war to take over the world. On top of that, Rinoa had trouble believing that Mia would support that. Garden's objective was to stop the Sorceress, now that Squall would no longer be in their way, did that mean they would go after Mia no matter what?

Rinoa felt like she was 5 years old again. She felt small, confused and vulnerable, and she had no idea what was right, and what was wrong.

Then, there was also this morning's news of Quistis. The whole group had planned on a meeting to take place at her father's that evening. Ellone, apparently, had decided to come as well, in order to support Squall.

Her reverie was broken by Zell knocking gently on her door. "Rin, everyone is downstairs. You feel up to coming?"

Rinoa smiled, she was more than eager to try walking, "Yeah, can you help me, Zell?"

Zell opened the door, "But of course." He offered his arm to her, gently helping her out of the bed, "Try not to be amazed by my studliness. I don't want Squall getting jealous."

Rinoa rolled her eyes, "Just don't let me fall."

They made their way down the stairs, Rinoa actually walking most of the way down the hallway herself, and only needing 2 balance checks from Zell on the stairs. She entered the living room to find her friends (minus Quistis), Ellone and Caraway.

Squall offered her a small smile, as much of one as he could muster in front of people, and took her arm, "It's good to see you up." He said softly, willing no one else to hear.

Rinoa gave his arm a small squeeze, "I feel a lot better. Weird. But, I don't feel like I'm going to faint all the time anymore."

Selphie bounced up and gave Rinoa a quick hug, "You look the same to me."

"I would hope so," Rinoa smiled through her teeth. This is what she was afraid of. Suddenly she was different... again.

They all took their seats. Squall sitting next to Rinoa and glancing over at her like a hawk watches its nest. No one spoke.

Finally it was Irvine who broke the silence, "Ah, hell, I'm just gonna say it. Am I the only one who thinks it's damn near obvious that we are royally fucked?"

Selphie glared at him, "Irvy..."

Irvine shook his head, "No, no more of this bullshit. I'm gonna say it, darlin. We got a crazy Sorceress, no offense Rin.."

"None taken."

"Anyway, crazy Sorceress with the most powerful politician on the globe. Yeah, I'm just gonna go ahead and say let 'em do their thing. This is not a battle we are gonna win."

Squall shook his head, "She's an unstable Sorceress with a politician. Not an army."

"She also has Seifer, and probably Quistis..." Selphie added.

"And Galbadia."

All heads turned towards Caraway, who chose to enter the conversation at that time, he continued, "I'm not going to fail her again. Mia is my daughter, Galbadia isn't going to fight her. I'm not saying we will fight FOR her, but we aren't going to fight against her."

Rinoa looked over at Caraway and for the first time in a long time actually SAW him _Dad..._ "I won't either." Rinoa said softly.

Caraway smiled as much as a man as stoic as him could at her daughter, "The same was true for you, you know."

Rinoa nodded, then turned towards Squall. In the end, Garden would follow Squall. But what would he decide?

Squall stayed quiet. _Galbadia__... Do_ we wait to see if Mia becomes aggressive? I'm sure she will try to get to Esthar. The Chancellor no doubt will want to get there too. I wonder what Cid is thinking.

Rinoa nudged him, "We can't hear you think." She then added softly, "Not even me, anymore..."

Squall nodded, "We need to talk to Cid. I... I want to see what Mia does. I'm not sure what she's planning. I assume she will go into Esthar, I'm just not sure how hostile she is."

Selphie hmmed, "Mia's not violent."

Irvine, Squall and Zell simultaneously coughed.

Selphie shook her head, "no, I mean, she's not unnecessarily violent. She's an assassin, she kills people that need to be killed. She's not a soldier. I can't really see her starting a war campaign."

Irvine nodded, "She has a point. She works alone on a small intimate scale."

Selphie continued, "I wish... she never gave any indication. I mean, I know she loved Sir Laguna but... I wish we knew what she was thinking."

An idea suddenly came to Rinoa. She looked over at the one person in the room who had yet to speak, "Ellone. Send me to her. Put me in Mia's mind."

Ellone bit her lip, "Rinoa... she's a Sorceress, she'll know you're there and... what if-"

Rinoa cut her off, "Mia won't care if I'm there, just... trust me. Send me, Ellone."

Squall nodded, "Me too. To Seifer."

Ellone sighed, "Okay, may as well lay down comfortably..."

* * *

Squall found himself looking through the eyes of Seifer, at none other than Quistis Trepe. At least that was partially expected. Still, Quistis leaving Garden in the middle of the night was a shock. Quistis, the epitome of rules, regulation and discipline. She, had deserted. Then again, Quistis had been doing some background work on Cid prior to coming to Deling, maybe Quistis had been on to something that was going on in Garden?

"You shouldn't be here, Quistis..." Seifer murmured softly.

"I don't care. W ho said a Sorceress can only have one knight?" Quistis pushed past Seifer, "Where's Mia?"

"I should have known you'd find us. I'm sure she already knows you're here. She's in the office, come on."

Quistis smiled shyly at the other blonde, Seifer smiled in return, "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here."

They made their way into the Timber Maniac's building where Mia and Seifer had set up temporary headquarters while the Chancellor was away doing "diplomacy".

Rinoa, meanwhile, found herself in Mia's mind. It was busy. She could tell she wasn't alone, the hum of past Sorceress dwelled within there, a hum that Rinoa had become accustomed to when she had the powers. It had taken time though, which was part of the reason Rinoa had stayed in a coma so long. Rinoa wasn't sure how Mia would be able to take it, especially as fragile as she was. Mia was sitting in the editor's chair in the office of the Timber Maniac's building. A man, clearly military, was handing her a beautiful gold bracelet with stones adorning it. _Odine Bangle..._

Mia reached for it without hesitation, toying with it between her hands, "Beautiful. This is lovely craftsmanship..."

The confused looking SeeD (or so Rinoa assumed), nodded, "Um, yes, a gift for the Sorceress."

Mia's eyes flashed, "From Garden? How generous."

It was at that time that Quistis and Seifer entered the room. Quistis reached for her whip, but Seifer put a hand in front of her, motioning her to be quiet.

Mia smiled brilliantly at the SeeD, handing the bracelet back to him, "Go ahead and put it on us, SeeD." She held out her wrist, "We would never refuse such a beautiful gift."

"Mia..." Quistis warned.

Mia held up a silencing hand as the bracelet clicked shut. The air in the room changed and felt dry. Mia gasped and Rinoa noticed that the hum in her mind was immediately shut out, "Do you know... they called me Dragon." She began, seemingly random.

The SeeD stared at her, shocked at how easy it had been, too shocked to remember to reach for her weapon and contain her.

Mia placed a hand on the SeeD's cheek, staring into his eyes, "You are so young..." She traced her finger along his cheek and over his lips before sensually running it along his arm towards her body, where she began to un button her blouse. The SeeD stood, bewildered. Mia shrugged the top off, the other 3 occupants of the room entranced. Even without the Sorceress power, she was casting an enchantment on all of them. Mia turned around, the dragon tattoo on her back in full view, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

The SeeD nodded, in awe. He was supposed to try to kill her, wasn't he? Right? Right. He was here to assassinate her! As he reached for his gun he was stopped as an excruciating pain split down his arm. The man looked to find a small puncture on the inside of his upper arm. It wasn't bleeding much, but the pain... it was like fire was cascading down his entire arm and through his finger tips. It was relentless. On top of that, he couldn't move his hand, it was limp and unresponsive.

"Brachial nerve...whoops," Mia murmured as she wiped her pin on the man's uniform jacket after pulling it from the SeeD's arm, Mia continued, the man less threatening now that his gun arm was out of commission, and the pain would most likely prevent him from doing anything any time soon, "Do you know how many men would see this tattoo and realized who they had just let in their house? The fear is incredible... when they realize the pretty girl is the Dragon, sent to kill them. The moment they realize there is absolutely nothing they can do. That they are going to die."

Mia's eyes clouded over as she traced the tip of her hair pin along the SeeDs cheek and lips, where her hand had been a moment before, "The things people would tell me before death, you have no idea... and the eyes. They say it all."

The SeeD gulped audibly as Seifer and Quistis watched, unsure of what Mia was going to do next.

Mia smiled and quickly whipped her pin into the other arm as the man screamed, now paralyzed on both sides. He hadn't even seen her move. Mia smiled at him, "Don't worry, I won't kill you... you won't be much of a SeeD without use of your arms anymore anyway."

"Wh..What?"

"Since I'm letting you live though, SeeD, I need you to do me a teeny tiny favor."

The SeeD was now on his knees in pain, arms dangling helplessly at his side. She had done this... and the bracelet was on. He had missed his chance.

Mia crouched down and grabbed the man's jaw, turning his face towards her, "Go tell Cid what you saw. That I don't even need to be the Sorceress to destroy every single one of you SeeD... you go back to Garden and tell him, I'm coming." With that she grabbed the SeeD by the collar and pulled him up to a standing position, shoving him towards the door. He scrambled towards the exit for dear life, past Seifer and Quistis.

Mia held her Odine bangle adorned wrist towards Seifer, "Get this pathetic thing off." She then added more loudly, "And you, little SeeD. You better run fast, no telling what I'll do when I get my magic back."

Seifer walked towards Mia and unclasped the Odine bangle from her wrist. The air changed again, and Rinoa felt the buzzing begin in Mia's mind again, "Ah... we feel so much better..." She said before looking towards Quistis, "Welcome home, Queen."

Quistis smiled, "I'm with you, Mia. I'll keep you level, just like I promised."

Mia smiled, giving the girl's hand a squeeze, "We hope you heard that, Rinoa..."

* * *

Rinoa and Squall awoke with a start, being pushed from Mia's mind. Mia had indeed, known they were there and did not care. Mia was coming after Garden. With Quistis, who knew every single in and out of Garden, backing her up. They hoped that Quistis and Seifer were there to also keep Mia in check and maybe, JUST maybe sort this thing out without chaos. Then again, the Chancellor who Mia was backing was currently at the World Council declaring himself an autocrat. Maybe he was a benevolent dictator...

One thing was for sure: Garden was in trouble, Cid was as good as dead, Galbadia would give their army to defend Mia, if needed, and Rinoa, in no way wanted to hurt her sister.

Things were at least going to get very interesting. Squall, for once in his life, had no idea where to stand.

* * *

A/N: Okay, a few things. First of all, I'm back on this fic. YAY. I know where I'm going. So I will update soon, I just wanted to give a little something. I am thinking of going back and editing (hard core) some previous chapters that I'm not super happy with.

Regarding the "we" and "us" that Mia is using, yes when she has her Sorceress powers she refers to herself as a "we" (her and the other Sorceresses of past) so when the bangle was on she is "I" again. A little Lord of the Rings, but hey...

Reviews are always welcome...


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